Our Protector
by lildrummerboi
Summary: He had been at the top of the FBI's Most Wanted list since he was 12 years old. When they finally caught him, there was nothing he could do. After Spending over a year in prison, Percy is released and uncertain what direction his life should take. Maybe he'd give that Coulson guy a call after all.
1. Prologue

The Beginning

May 3, 2007

New York

1010 Hours

It happened during second period. Ms. Brockhurst had only just finished writing a series of equations on the chalkboard when everything erupted into chaos. The door to the classroom exploded inward as several large men and woman, armed with rifles and handguns, and donning protective vests swarmed into the room. As one, they converged on his desk, shouting at him and telling him to stand and put his hands behind his head. Percy tried to do as he was told. One of the officers grabbed him and twisted him around painfully. The officer slammed him into the desk and, at the same time, wrenched his arms behind his back. As the cuffs were being put on he barely made out the letters "F.B.I" on the chest of a nearby officer.

Once the cuffs were secured he was roughly dragged to his feet and hauled out of the room. He had been numb. He had been completely unable to comprehend exactly what was happening. He didn't know what he had done, and his heart was hammering in his chest. Students and faculty alike had come to classroom doors as he was paraded out of the building; eager to catch a glimpse of what was going on. He had seen Paul running out of his classroom, his face contorted in a combination of fury and fear. A pair of burley officers stopped him before he could get too close however. Percy couldn't register what Paul was saying, but it was clear that he had been trying to convey something. It was all for naught however, as he couldn't hear a thing over the blood pounding in his ears and the sound of his own thoughts.

Percy had been led outside, and into the courtyard in front of the school. After his eyes adjusted to the light he saw a veritable army of federal officers outside the school. Sedans, vans, SUV's, trucks, and even armed personnel carriers were sitting in the street. Hiding behind the doors of their vehicles as well as man-made barricades were nearly one hundred officers. Every one of them had a weapon drawn and pointed in his direction. He was momentarily blown off balance when a helicopter flew overhead, very close to the ground, and kicked up dust and debris. Behind all of the officers, was a conglomeration of citizens, journalists, and students. Looking up the street he saw that shop owners and day walkers were walking out of their respective shops and pausing in their activities to watch the spectacle unfold.

He was dragged across the lawn, weapons following him the entire way, and was pushed none too gently into the back of an armed prisoner transport vehicle. Once he was seated on the hard metal bench of the transport, his wrists and ankles were bound together and locked into the floor of the transport. When they were certain he was securely locked in, five officers, clad in full combat regalia, clambered into the back and sat down. The officer that sat down in front of him glared in his direction and he quickly averted his eyes. The door was slammed shut behind the last officer and the transport rumbled to life. Percy spent the drive running through possibilities for escape. But every time he thought he had a good idea the image of his mother and his friends swam in front of his vision and he stopped himself. He knew that should he try and escape, his friends and family would be the ones to suffer for him. That aside, Percy still held on to the hope that whatever was going on was a gross mistake, or even one of those viral pranking videos. He was waiting with baited breath for everyone to turn and shout "GOT YA" but if Percy was honest with himself, he knew it was nothing more than a fantasy.

The drive had been a quick one. It was only about fifteen minutes before they arrived at their destination. As the truck slowed to a stop, the officer in front of him grabbed his wrists and ankles roughly and began unshackling him. No sooner had the chains fallen to the floor than the doors to the transport were thrust open once more and he was roughly shoved out. To his surprise however, he wasn't in front of a police station or a jail. Instead, he was standing in front of a rather unassuming office building. Before he had to time to truly work through his confusion, an officer grabber him gruffly on the shoulder and began leading him forward into the building. Once inside, it became clear that it was much more than an unassuming office building. The inside had been transformed into a massive command center; maps, graphics, and note were plastered all over the walls. Desks and tables were strewn across the floor, many with computers and stacks of paper and other pictures. Pictures of him. They were everywhere, pictures of him at school, at home with his parents, with his closest friends. His heart began pounding harder now and his muscles tensed. As though she sensed Percy's thought process, the officer holding onto his shoulder said quietly,

"I wouldn't do that kid. It won't go well." He swallowed hard and with a tremendous effort, forced his shoulders to relax slightly. The officer was right. Despite how good he knew he could be in a fight, in a small and cramped building like this, with everyone inside armed to the teeth and his wrists and ankles bound, he knew he wouldn't make it five feet, let alone to freedom.

He was led through the office and through a doorway on the other side leading to a staircase. The procession took the stairs heading down. Percy found tackling stairs with ankles that were chained together was no easy task. They climbed down three flights before they turned and walked through another doorway into a long and empty hallway. The group walked to the end of the hall where two heavily armed guards were positioned on the outside of a small room. Nothing was said to Percy as he was shoved inside and the door was closed behind him. He tried to run, stumble, to the door before it closed but he wasn't fast enough. The large door was slammed shut and as he fell onto the frame, Percy heard it lock with a large 'CLUNK'.

He had pounded his hands on the door and shouted, "Hey! You can't do this you a-holes! I have rights!" That was what they always said in the movies and on TV anyway. He had never been particularly good with how the law worked but it always sounded good and he was pretty sure that there was at least a partial truth to it all. He kept pounding, taking care not to just break down the door.

Not only did that seem like a great way to get shot, but it would open up a whole new world of trouble with…others, that he didn't want to deal with. He gave up beating the door after a few minutes when it became clear that it was a lost cause. He had turned around and examined his new cell. It was an old storage closet that had been loosely reformed into a holding cell. The room was small, barely eight feet by eight feet. The ceiling was low and the walls looked to have been replaced with hard metal in order to deter escape attempts. Realizing that he was momentarily stuck, he had slunk over to the cot, and sat down.

He hadn't been sure how long he had been sitting there, but it had felt like a few hours at least. Eventually the door opened again, and a pair of armed guards guided him out of the room. He was directed into another small room. He had watched enough law and order to recognize that it was an interrogation cell. He was sat down on a cold, metal chair on one side of the small table in the center of the room and had his hands chained to a small hook in the center of the table. After he was secured, the guards left and he was alone again.

After another hour, his anger, frustration, and anxiety had been beginning to reach their boiling point. Just as he was on the verge of lashing out and potentially doing something he would regret, the door opened and a pair of well-dressed agents walked into the room. It was a man and a woman. From the way they entered the room, to the way they carried themselves, it was clear to Percy that the dark haired woman was in charge.

"About damn time.", Percy growled out, his cocktail of emotions becoming too much to handle. "What in the Ha-heck!", he caught himself, "Is going on! I didn't do anything wrong! You can't treat me like this! And where is my phone call! I watch TV I know how this works! I want my lawyer and my phone call!" Percy was beginning to wind himself up for a tirade but he was cut off when the man slammed his hand into the table aggressively.

"You'll get nothing and like you bastard. You really think after everything you've done we'd let you-", whatever he was about to say was cut off by the woman.

"Stand down Biernstein.", the man, Biernstein, looked like he wanted to argue but thought better of it. The two sat down, the woman placing a large folder on the table as she did so. "Percy Jackson, I'm special agent Danson and this is special agent Biernstein. We are the ones that were assigned to your case.",

"My case?", Percy cut across aggressively, "What case?! I haven't done anything!"

"Well we both know that's not true, don't we Mr. Jackson?" said Danson, opening up her folder. "Let's see here, you've been expelled from every single school you've ever attended. Clearly you have a problem with authority. Are you a troublemaker Mr. Jackson? It certainly seems that way." Percy didn't respond, choosing instead to simply glare at the woman. "You got into a lot of fights every where you went to school to Mr. Jackson."

"What's wrong kid, don't play well with others?" said Biernstein snidely.

"What's wrong old man? Don't play well with women your own age so you gotta play with kids instead?" shot back Percy hotly. Biernstein shot to his feet, his fist cocked back. But before it could go any further Danson intercepted it and wrestled him back to his seat. Percy didn't bother hiding his look of smug satisfaction. He turned and addressed the woman, tired of whatever game they were trying to play.

"Look, I don't know or care why you're talking about all of this crap so why don't you just jump to the point. It's getting late and I'm sure the kids in Bernie's basement over there are starting to get hungry.", Biernstein turned purple again but Danson reached over and yanked hard on the man's jacket keeping him grounded. Danson glared at Percy for a moment before sifting through the file again. After a minute she pulled out a series of photographs and laid them out on the table in front of Percy one after another.

The first was dated in June of 2003. It was a picture of twelve year Percy. The picture was grainy, but it was still clear enough to make out the smoking husk of the St. Louis Arch. With Percy stranding in the large smoking hole in the side. The next two picture were dated as July, 2006. The first was of Percy, and several others walking into a large junkyard. The second was of an enormous explosion coming from the Junkyard. The next photo was of a beaten and bloody Percy running down the street in what looked like Manhattan. Percy felt his heart jump into his throat as he recognized exactly what this picture was. In his hand was a large and bloody baseball bat. The bat was held high in his hand as he was prepared to bring it down on the young man in the picture in front of him.

Then there was a series of pictures of very familiar faces. The first was of his former step-father Gabe Ugliano. The next was the handsome face of Luke Castellan and finally the pictures of Silena Beauregard and Charles Beckendorf. Percy felt his skin begin to crawl as an involuntary shiver wracked his body. He began gripping the table in front of him so hard the he didn't even notice he was beginning to bend it.

"You asked what this is about Mr. Jackson. Well I'll tell you. This is about you destroying a national icon. This is about you destroying public and private property at will. This is about you kidnapping and killing men, woman, and children. This, Mr. Jackson, is about ending your reign of terror in this country. Believe me Mr. Jackson, before the year is out I will personally see to it that you never see the outside of a jail cell for the rest of your sad, miserable life."

BREAK

The trial had been a joke. Deliberations barely last a week bfor the judge came back with a verdict that found Percy guilty of four charges of murder. Then there were three charges of kidnapping with conspiracy to commit murder. He had been charged with the destruction of the St. Louis arch as well as several destroyed blocks in Manhattan proper. When the dust settled, Percy was going to be spending a cumulative one hundred and seventy-six years in prison. Throughout the proceedings he had waited for help to arrive, but none came. Not Grover, not Annabeth, not Chiron or Jason or anybody besides his mother and step-father came to his aid. It wouldn't be until after the sentencing that he would discover why.

Shortly after the sentencing, Grover visited him. Grover informed him that the Olympus had sealed off access to the rest of the world during the duration of Percy's trial. As it was, apparently mortals had come too close to discovering their world, and by majority vote, the gods had decided that as leader of the camps and demigods, it was Percy's duty and responsibility to shoulder the burden of protecting them. The gods had put the their children in a stasis and they didn't release them until after the trial. It was only because of their empathic link that Percy knew that his friend was telling the truth. The reality of it all nearly broke him. On the one hand, he wanted to scream and rage and fight back at the injustice of it all. That after everything he had done and sacrificed, he was still being asked to give more than was his due. On the other hand though, he knew that if he could put down his life and sacrifice his own happiness and well being in order to protect his friends and family, then it was a sacrifice he was more than willing to make. It was tearing him up inside though.

Nothing tore at him however, like the sight of his mother on the day of his sentencing. She had collapsed on the floor of the courthouse, wailing in grief and misery; It destroyed him to see the single most important person in his life hurt in such a way. The image of her sobbing into Paul's shoulder, as he was escorted put of the courtroom haunted his every night for months. The knowledge that once again, he was the cause of her pain and suffering was nearly too much. After all she had given in order to protect him and see him safe, in the end it had all been for naught.

Percy spent five months in Juvenile detention. However on his 18th birthday, he was transferred out, and transplanted to a federal facility for some of the country's most dangerous criminals. He spent two months in general population. However, there was an attempted breakout and a riot ensued. During the riot, Percy scuffled with several other inmates. He shattered the arms of one, before crippling the legs of another. One inmate tried to gore him with a plastic shiv but was killed when Percy, unable to dampen his enhanced strength due to the stress, punched the man in the throat, shattering his windpipe.

After the escape attempt had been put down, Percy was moved to isolation. His only human interaction during that time was during meals, when guards would open the slot in the door to slide him his tray of food. For four months, this was his life. Until suddenly, it wasn't. He was roused from his sleep early one morning and dragged out of his cell. In his drowsy state he barely even registered being brought out of the penitentiary and being shunted onto a bus. Before he was knew it, he was two hours away, sitting in yet another interrogation room, not unlike the one Biernstein and Danson had thrown him in.

It was here that he first met Phil Coulson, the man that would forever change the course of his life. He had been seated for only about two minutes before the door opened and a man walked in. He had been dressed in a simple suit; he was an average looking man in his early to mid thirties and had a receding hairline. He had walked in with a kind smile and happy eyes and had approached Percy with his hand outstretched. Percy had hesitantly tried to shake the man's hand only for the chains binding him to the table to restrict him. Seeing the chains the man had frowned before calling for a guard and demanding that the chains be removed.

After the manacles were removed the two men exchanged a handshake and Percy learned the Man's name was Coulson.

"Mr. Jackson", Coulson had said after sitting down, "On behalf of the government of the United States, and in fact all the governments of the world; I wanted to wish you an apology for your wrongful imprisonment." A flurry of emotions ran through Percy all at once. Relief, confusion, sadness, and most of all, anger. No, anger wasn't descriptive enough for the rage that built inside of him. He had been apoplectic at Coulson's revelation. Coulson had smartly sat back and allowed Percy to rage until he had winded himself. When he paused to take a breath, Coulson interjected himself.

"Yes, Mr. Jackson, given what you have done and sacrificed for not only our country, but our entire world. My organization had sought to eliminate any and all traces of your encounters with mythological creatures from all federal databanks. I am saddened to inform you that, we clearly did not do a good enough job."

It had taken a moment for the words to register with him and he was sure that he had misheard but a look a Coulson's expression had quickly proven that notion to be false. As if to bury the issue once and for all Coulson nodded and said,

"Don't worry Mr. Jackson, we've known about your, ah, extended family for a very long time." Percy's mouth had gone dry and his blood was pumping so ferociously it sounded like thunder in his ears.

"Who is 'we'", Percy had asked, after a moment of silence.

"The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.", Coulson said simply. When Percy raised an eyebrow at the long name Coulson smiled ruefully, "We're working on it. The point is, Mr. Jackson that we know full well what it is you have done in the service of the world. We made a mistake and we would like to atone for it right here and now. We have done what is necessary to ensure your freedom. As of this morning, Percy Jackson has been cleared of any and all charges laid against him. You're a free man."

A thousand questions were roaming around in his head, and he felt the corners of his eyes begin to burn slightly with the promise of tears. He had long since resigned himself to the idea that his life was effectively over with, that he would spend his remaining years in a small padded cell. That he would never see his mother or any of his friends or family again. The abruptness of these revelations was almost too much to bear. After a moment, he had been able to compose himself however, and ask the question that was most prominent in his mind.

"How?" was all he could manage. Coulson Smiled ruefully again at him an asked,

"How did we get you released or how do we know about your…special….heritage?", Percy only stared at him tightly in response and Coulson chuckled slightly, "We've known about your kind for some time now. We even have a couple of you within our ranks. The how isn't all that important just know that we know. You don't need to worry, we share your sentiment, and we don't believe that any of this should be public knowledge. In fact, if it makes you feel any better, I know for a fact that this information isn't even written down anywhere. It's a fact of word of mouth only. If I hadn't seen proof with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed you guys existed at all."

Percy had swallowed thickly again and nodded in assent. His question hadn't really been answered, but he figured that he would probably continue to only get half answers and semi-truths if he pressed the topic. A common misconception about the young man had always been that he was stupid. Percy wasn't dumb, his intelligence just showed itself in less traditional avenues. He was excellent at reading people and situations, it was a skill he had developed over the years and it was what had made him such an effective leader. Thus, he knew by his reading and judging of the man that Coulson was the type to try and play things as close to the vest as possible. He knew the man was hiding something, possibly something very important, but at that particular moment, Percy had just been unable to bring himself to care. He was going to be a free man! He would see his mother again! Which brought forth the next question on his mind.

"So, what happens now?", Percy had asked slowly. It had been gnawing at the back of his mind for the past several minutes, since Coulson had told him of his release.

"Well I'd say that depends on you Mr. Jackson, you could always go back to school", Percy had snorted, He hadn't graduated high school, though he supposed he could always go back and get his G.E.D. Truth be told, he hadn't been sure he wanted to. He didn't particularly see himself as the college type. That had always been Annabeth's or Malcolm's thing. He just wasn't academic enough. He had no real world skills that would be useful outside of being a demigod, at least nothing he could practically put down on a resume.

"…But", Coulson continued as though he hadn't heard Percy's sound of derision, "I believe that would be a tremendous waste of your talents and potential." Percy had raised an eyebrow at that.

"The heck does that mean?", he had asked. Coulson had only smiled again,

"It's rather simple, Mr. Jackson. You have unbelievable gifts and abilities and your capable of doing tremendous good. I believe that you have the power and potential to enact real, positive change in the world. But you won't be able to do that while sitting behind a desk. Don't you think, that talents and skills such as yours, are much more better utilized out in the real world?"

Percy had narrowed his eyes at the man. Trying to discern what he was trying to get at. "What are you saying Coulson?", he had asked.

"I'm saying", the man had said, "that instead of allowing yourself to disappear into obscurity, you use your power for good. To help protect people, to protect our country; our world. That is what my organization stands for Mr. Jackson. That is the duty and the mission we have been charged with. We protect and safeguard humanity. We are proactive; we attack and disable threats before they are ever even able to effectively assert themselves. You've already proven yourself to be a vanguard for humanity Mr. Jackson, it's not every man that can say they've saved the world, let alone saved it twice. Humanity could use a man like you watching out for it",

Percy had paused briefly, replaying what the man had said a few times in his head. He had wanted to make sure that he understood what the man was saying. Coulson was clearly a man that was gifted at double speak, saying one thing and meaning or conveying something else. When Percy had spoken again, he did his best to keep his voice measured,

"It sounds like your offering me a job Mr. Coulson."

Coulson's only response was to smile broadly and hand Percy a business card with his name and a phone number to reach him at.

"When you're ready, we'll be waiting.",

Then, the man stood up, shook Percy's confused hand, and disappeared out the door.

BREAK

It was a happy three weeks. Following his release from incarceration his mother and stepfather greeted him with pomp and circumstance befitting the situation. His mother had cried and refused to let go of his hand for the duration of their trip back to Manhattan. He had been more than comfortable for the forced proximity, his time away had taught him lessons, specifically that life was fleeting and each moment was meant to be cherished because you never knew when you would get another.

He spent the next three weeks with his family doing everything he could to re-immerse himself in the world and acclimate himself to what had happened while he was away. This meant confronting his friends at the newly established New Rome. In what was inevitably a very short visit Percy told his friends that, while he understood their inactions and inability to render aid, he still couldn't help feeling like they had let him down. Percy had spent a large portion of his time away thinking, specifically about his role in the greater world. He decided that he was quite done with being the plaything of greater beings. He owed them nothing and they knew it. Percy had decided that if he ever got the chance, he would effectively cut off all ties he could with that part of his life and start something new, start something fresh.

Interestingly enough this fresh new mindset could be partially attributed to his time spent with prison psychiatrist Dr. Leonard "Samson" Skivorski. While Percy hadn't been willing, or able for that matter, to tell the man the truth of his situation in full, he had been able to tell the man enough for Dr. Skivorski to lend him some useful insight. The doctor told Percy that he needed to forge his own path, and that he needed to cut out these toxic and borderline abusive relationships. The kind man had helped Percy understand that there was more to him as a person than simply being an errand boy. Thus, Percy decided that he would forge his own path.

That being said, Percy did not believe that he needed to cut himself off from his friends from New Rome. His relationship with the higher beings around him notwithstanding, they were still his friends and they had seen each other through literal hell and back. He knew that they would support his choice, even if some of them didn't understand it.

For the most part, he was correct. Annabeth took his decision….poorly. Meaning she punched him in the nose and stormed off before he could try and salvage the situation. Percy's heart had hurt painfully, he had thought that she would be supportive in his decision, that maybe she would have even agreed with him and joined him in attempt to forge something great for himself. But deep down, he also knew that those wishes were simply that, wishes. For all they had been through and all they had been through together, Annabeth's fatal flaw, her greatest most mortal weakness was her own hubris. Her own staunch belief in the gods was simply too strong to break away. It was with a heavy heart, and a bleeding nose, that Percy walked away from the camp one final time.

BREAK

Percy's freedom and lightheartedness lasted all about a week before the inevitable happened. He got bored. He hadn't been going to going to school, thank the gods for the that. He hadn't been attacked by anyone or anything, and for the first time in is life there was no life altering or world ending prophecy hanging over his head. It was all really, really boring in his opinion. He thought that he would love just wasting away the hours of the day with his family, doing odd ends around the house and doing clichéd albeit fun family bonding activities. But it was all so…boring. He loved it, truly, but there was just a part of him that was itching for something, anything to happen. It was like being thirsty or hungry or having an irritating itch on you upper back that you just couldn't scratch. The problem was exacerbated by an annoying voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Agent Coulson's, to join the man's shadowy organization.

It eventually got to the point where his mother noticed his uneasiness and confronted him about it. They had a long discussion in which he eventually came clean about the discussion he'd had with Agent Coulson; he even showed her the card Percy had been given. They talked for several hours, talked long into the night about the path in life that Percy would try and follow. Eventually, the pair of them settled on some truths. The first was that, for better or worse, Percy was a demigod child of one of the most power gods in the known ethos. That meant that he had a natural craving and desire for conflict. The second was that Percy wanted to channel those desires for conflict into something that would be good for the rest of humanity. From the sounds of it, and the impression that his mother had gotten from Percy's rendition of the discussion with Coulson, was that while the organization he represented was station in the United States, it was in fact a global unit meant to protect humanity, not just Americans. It was a cause that Percy could get behind.

The defense of the planet and of the human race was a fight that Percy had been fighting since he was twelve years old. While it had started out of a personal desire to save his mother, Percy's motivations had morphed into the desire to protect his planet as a whole. To both of them, the decision was obvious. Coulson was right, it would be a waste of Percy's time and talents to spend his years wasting away doing something he wouldn't be good at. Percy needed to play to his strengths, and his biggest strength was his ability to fight. He decided to accept the offer. Neither he, nor his mother, were truly surprised by the decision. Percy figured that his best chance to protect not just his family, but the greater good, was to play to his strengths and do that with someone with the backing and support to help him.

While his mother was certainly saddened to her beloved boy go again, she knew deep in her heart that this was simply the right course of action for him. He had been suffocating in their little apartment, playing pretend family. It just wasn't who Percy was. She accepted long ago that the sea was untamable. You could only try and follow and guide it along its path.

As his mother left his room to begin packing some of his belongings, Percy reached for his phone and dialed the number on the card Coulson had given him. The man picked up after the first ring.

"Glad to see you've accepted our offer Mr. Jackson. There's a car waiting for you outside, we look forward to working with you.",

There was a click, and the line went dead.

 _A/N: Hello true believers! All right I know some of you will likely be upset with me because I'm going against what I have previously stated and I'm doing a rewrite of my story Sentinel. However, I believe that I have legitimate reasons for this. Firstly, I really, really did not like the way Sentinel was progressing. I actually hated it, I hated the way the early chapters were written, it wasn't paced in any way, characters and character relationships weren't fleshed out and the story itself was just marvel movies with Percy kinda tagging along for the ride. I needed to start from scratch. If there is one thing that writing, in any form has taught me, it's that you only get quality work when you're passionate about what you're writing about. I still stand behind my original idea and concepts. I just want to rework the stuff I started as a kid and fix it up now that I've matured a little as a writer. Hopefully this also means a more serious update schedule. So with that, I hope you enjoy this slight retelling of my first ever work. Let me know what you think, and thank you all for the support, kindness, and love you've shown me over the years. Many thanks, your biggest fan_

 _-LilDB_


	2. Carry On Wayward Son

Five Years Later…

April 16, 2012

Budapest, Hungary

1122 Hours

Percy's eyes blinked rapidly as a sharp gust of wind blew up a cloud of dust into eyes. Raising a fist to his face he tried to rub the agitation away. Looking down, he was pleased to see that his coffee sat undistributed by the brief gust. He was nothing without his daily brew, especially on days like today. As he took a sip his eyes darted around the small café scanning for potential threats and hopefully positively identifying their quarry. There was a crackle in his hear as the voice of one of his compatriots broke through the light murmurings of the other café goers.

"You know, for a couple on their honeymoon, you two look like you'd rather be anywhere else." The male voice was light, yet crisp. Someone who was clearly wound tightly, but was still trying to bring slight levity to the situation before everything went to hell.

"Awe, someone sounds jealous.", said a low and sultry voice, "What's wrong, Barton? Wishing you were down here instead of me?" As Percy turned his attention to the woman sitting across from him, he could see the smirk and mirth in Natasha's eyes, as her auburn hair flowed slightly under the cover of an expensive sun hat. If there was one thing the woman loved more than anything, it was verbal sparring. Percy joined in before his male counterpart could counter.

"That's not fair Nat, you and I both know that he would much rather be here with that pretty brunette from the library in Waco than with either of us.",

"You're right, instead of worrying about our pretend relationship, shouldn't you be figuring out what you're going to be doing on your little date next week?"

"And before you say it Clint, no, taking her to an archery range or a gun show is not an acceptable first date." Percy chimed in; lifting a journal to his face as he slowly tracked a sleek, black sports car pull up to a nearby intersection. Natasha responded in kind, once again cutting off Clint before he could respond to the teasing.

"Percy's right you know, you need to do something you both will find enjoyable, not just show off. It would come across as pathetic. And don't, for the love of god, bring her back to your nest." Percy watched as Natasha tracked the same car he was out of the reflection of her compact mirror, as she pretended to fix her hair.

There was silence over the comms unit before Clint simply said, "I hate you two. I just want you to know that.",

Percy and Natasha simply smirked at one another as they watched the sports car pull into a parking space a block away. The driver, a tall dark skinned woman with curly black hair stepped out. She looked over her shoulder, before scanning her surrounding on both sides, when she was content that she felt she wasn't being followed, she reached into the back seat of the car and pulled out a large black carrying bag, which she slung over one shoulder. She closed the door to the car, locked it, and began marching toward a small, nondescript office building at the end of the street.

Percy stood up abruptly, pulling a wad of currency out from his wallet and placing it on the table as he did so. With the air of a man utterly devoted to his newlywed, he swept across the side of the table and aided Natasha out of her seat. The faux couple ignored their comrade as Natasha looped her arm through Percy's and they began tracking their target from a distance. They maintained a three-block proxy just to be safe. Stopping every few hundred feet to pretend to goggle or gape over something in a window display or at a vendor's table.

After their target disappeared into the building Percy and Natasha ducked into an alley about half block from the target location. Stepping into a doorway, Percy discarded the clothing he had been wearing in favor of something more suitable for active combat. It was dark tactical armor and a small backpack that clipped into small hatches on his breastplate. The backpack was filled with about two gallons of water. While Percy could always count on being able to create water from the ambient matter around him, experience had long since taught the necessity of being prepared for anything. As backup protection, a pair of standard issue police battering batons was strapped to each thigh, and a pistol was holstered in the small of his back.

"Eyes on the target?" Percy asked into his earpiece, the time for joking around having long since passed, Percy knew it was game time. When Clint answered, his voice was monotone and completely serious, his own professionalism coming to the surface in the face of the job at hand.

"The good doctor is currently climbing the stairs up-, correction, she just exited on the fourth floor, she's heading due south. Take the doorway immediately to your left. There will be a set of stairs leading to an access on the roof. Should give you access to cross unnoticed to target location."

"Acknowledged." Came Natasha's reply, already picking the lock of the aforementioned door.

"Remember guys", came Clint's voice as they dashed inside and began climbing the stairs, "Intelligence suggests that a civil war could be breaking out here any day now. We don't have time to waste and I don't know about you, but I sure as hell don't want to be stuck here when the shit hits the fan." Percy swallowed a snort at that. The Hungarian government had been fractured in the past couple of years, political rifts and divides between the political elites were spiraling out of control and rivalry factions had been formed within the splintering government. Of the many factions to emerge was an extremist group, bent on dismantling the current administration and government and forming something they deemed more suitable.

While their leaders in the parliament and community leaders claimed they wished for peaceful change and transition of authority, intelligence had determined that within the last year or so the movement had been quickly accumulating weapons, transport, and munitions. Several supply dumps had been spotted from low orbit by drones. It was clear that the party was in fact planning for a regime change the more traditional way. An old fashioned coup. It wasn't shocking, the more Percy worked around the world, the clearer it became. The rhetoric was always the same, the people in charge were claiming that they wanted what was best for their people but in reality, they only wanted what was best for them. After all, it was no surprise that the leaders of the political movements had, in the last two weeks, transferred all of their funds out of the Hungarian banks and deposited them into offshore accounts.

It was basic economics, foreign and domestic investors wouldn't be willing to pour money into a country that was politically and militarily unstable, so the value of said countries currency would rapidly devalue in response. The leaders of the coup, recognized this certainty, and also realized that they needed certain assurances in place. These leaders and political elites wouldn't feel the backlash of their own actions, but the rest of their country sure as hell would.

But that wasn't why Percy and his team were Budapest. The organization, which was still deprived of a truly useful acronym, wasn't concerned with the internal political instability of a minor world power. What the organization was concerned about, however, were the launch codes for several, multi-kiloton ballistic missiles in Europe. Their target, Doctor Minenhle Amahle, was a South African mechanical engineer who had worked on several of the missiles in the Eastern European region. Having discovered that the military contractor she was working for was planning to sell the launch codes to the highest bidder, she took it upon herself to steal the codes herself and absconded to Hungary to try and hide. The director and the organization at large was looking to extradite the South African national to a safe house in Paris, where she would be placed in a protection program.

It was a simple enough job, with the exception that intelligence discovered that around twenty operatives working for the military contractor, that Percy still didn't know the name of, had arrived in Budapest, less than twelve hours ago. Meaning that Percy and his team needed to move sooner, rather than later, to extract the doctor.

Percy and Natasha quickly reached the roof access doorway and ran onto the roof. From their position they could clearly make out the target building roughly a block away from them. Taking off a fast run, the pair jumped and glided across the rooftops quickly and swiftly. Moving the grace and precision afforded to highly talented gymnasts. In a manner of minutes they stationed on the rooftop directly across and slightly above the roof of their target building.

Without breaking stride, Percy grabbed onto Natasha who, for her part, let it happen and lifted her legs off the ground to allow Percy to run freely. With his partner easily in his grasp, Percy leaped off the building, crossing the alleyway underneath them easily. Knowing that a hard landing would more than likely scare their target, Percy reached out with his will and created a layer of padding around both his feet, as well as his landing area. Where a normal person may have slid or even splashed the new puddle on the building, the water actually acted like a shock and sound absorber for the half god. Making the pairs landing on the rooftop both quiet and graceful.

Letting Natasha down the pair took off at a run once again, this time diverging their paths somewhat. Natasha cut to her right, and made a line for the roof access while Percy cut left and turned to approach the rear of the building. While Clint was working overwatch, covering their position from a distance as well as keeping them appraised of the movements of their target and any additional incoming hostiles, Percy and Natasha had their own separate jobs. Natasha, given her brand of experience in VIP extraction operations, was moving to secure Doctor Amahle. She was easily the more articulate orator of the two and would be able to convince the woman to come along quietly.

Percy's skills and experience were a bit more direct combat oriented. He was meant to secure their extraction. Two different vehicles were parked in the lot directly behind the building. Each vehicle was outfitted with a specially modified tracking unit so all three would know where the other two were at all times. Additionally, one of the transports was weighed down with the exact weight of the target to make it impossible to determine which van the doctor was in. Having watched the doctor for the past several days, intelligence had been able to determine her routine and decided that this was the perfect place for their extraction. They had delivered the vehicles the night before as a precaution. While they hadn't known if they had beaten the contractors to city by that point, in their business it paid to be extremely overly prepared.

The only problem with the operation was that the building they had chosen for extraction was a civilian office filled with noncombatants. It was a high-end architectural firm with moderate security and as the team was working on short-notice, they had not had the time to forge legitimate enough credentials to fake Natasha's way into the building, hence the rooftop access. While the building had enough security to necessitate a bit of annoying caution, the business owners weren't worried enough to consider security details outside the main lobby.

As Percy reached the fired escape and began making his way down toward their extraction point he heard Natasha call in his ear,

"VIP is secure, making our way to extractin now. Clint, Status?",

"Leaving my nest now, heads up though, I spotted at least 4 unmarked SUV's moving at high speed toward our location. ETA roughly 2 minutes, you're gonna have company.", As Clint was saying this, Percy had reached the vehicles and was simultaneously starting each of them, as he turned the ignition of the last vehicle Natasha and the woman came walking swiftly out of the building. Doctor Amahle was, in stark contrast to Natasha's perfectly calm demeanor, looked about ready to pass out. Her eyes were shifting uneasily from building to building and she was sweating profusely. Without a word, Natasha and Percy quickly pushed her into the trunk of an ostentatious sports car with no additional weights and told her not move. Then without preamble, they shut the trunk on her before she could protest.

While the ostentatious sports car at first glance appeared to be a questionable choice for maintaining discretion, it was actually the perfect disguise, they contractors would likely be looking for male drivers behind a nondescript vehicle, likely something bulky like a van or a large truck, because they would be able to withstand some punishment as well as provide protection and stability for the precious cargo. Meanwhile, a woman behind the wheel of an expensive sports car, would garner no unnecessary attention from those they were looking to avoid.

As they closed the lid on the trunk, Clint's voice rang in their ears

"If you two are done playing around, Nat you need to be gone like, right now." Natasha nodded and opened the door to the car and got in,

"I'll get her to the extraction team and then meet back with you at the rendezvous point. Try not to have too much fun without me." And with that she got in the car and took off.

Without preamble Percy raced to the other car, a large black and nondescript maintenance truck and took off toward the front of the building, in the opposite direction of Natasha and the Doctor. Just as he was pulling onto the road, a line of black, unmarked SUV's flew past him. He had enough time as they passed by to make eye contact with the man in the passenger seat of the lead car. Percy saw the man's eyes widen and lift a radio to his lips, a moment later Percy was passed them. He slammed his foot to the floor and accelerated hard. Behind him, he heard the sound of rubber tires squealing on pavement. A look into the rearview mirror confirmed what he had assumed would be happening, the lead SUV had broke hard and turned suddenly, drifting across three lanes of traffic to come up into the lane behind him.

Percy felt a smirk roll over his lips and he spoke into his earpiece, "Hey mom, my friends are here and wanna know if I can come out play?"

Percy could practically feel the smirk coming back at him from Natasha's own car, "Only if you promise not to roughhouse and be back before dinner."

"Of course!" Percy said, he received Natasha's message clearly. 'Take them out, but don't expose yourself and don't miss the rendezvous.'

"I promise not to make too much of a mess. See you at dinner." He heard Natasha chuckle before there was a click and the line went dead. His grin became slightly manic as the SUV crept closer. As the lead SUV approached it changed lanes so that it was coming up on Percy's driver side. Meanwhile the remaining three SUV's had followed the lead of the first car and changed directions and were closing in behind. The second in line was coming up on the passenger side wheel well, while the third car was creeping up on Percy's front bumper. They were attempting to box him in and slow him down. The fourth car remained back in a trail position, should something go horribly wrong.

Spoiler alert, it would.

As the lead SUV came up on Percy's window they drove over a sewer grate. Reaching out, Percy extended his will out and downward, feeling the flow of the sewer beneath them. Just as the lead car pulled even with Percy, they passed over the grate, which exploded. The metal cap covering the ladder down to the sewers erupted into the undercarriage of the first SUV as sewer water exploded upward with the force of a geyser. As the cap ripped through the car it dislodged the fuel intake directing fuel from the gas tank to the engine, the disconnection caused the vehicle's engine to explode violently as the force of the initial impact launched the vehicle into the sky. The SUV went skidding to a halt down the street, the engine on fire, and the occupants dead.

As this was happening Percy pulled the wheel sharply to the right, crashing hard into the side of the second vehicle. Percy's truck had been triple reinforced with a lightweight but incredible tough alloy. A similar material to what Stark was using in his suits. The result was the smaller, and more poorly made SUV was sent careening off to the side, whereas Percy's truck was able to maintain its course. The battered SUV spun wildly out of control before colliding heavily with the start of a guardrail. As the vehicle stopped suddenly, the force of the impact rammed the rail through the driver side door, and into the unfortunate henchman behind the wheel.

As all of this had happened within the span of a matter of seconds, the third driver barely had time register what was happening. Percy then suddenly handbrake drifted, before throwing the down hard on the accelerator once more. The third car was thrown off by the sudden maneuver and when it tried to follow, it did so too quickly. When the SUV was halfway through the maneuver, the weight and inertia of the movement became too much and the car flipped, skidding on its side down the street, until I came to a rest, on its side, near an intersection.

The fourth and final car had a bit more luck. It was able to quickly course-correct and was soon gaining on Percy's rear bumper. Percy tried to shake the driver off, pulling of a successive series of handbrake turns, and aggressively difficult maneuvers. However, his pursuer was annoyingly persistent, and even more annoyingly capable. His pursuer pulled out from behind him, and accelerated hard until the SUV was even to Percy's driver-side window. Percy was forced to duck and brake hard as his window suddenly exploded under a hail of gunfire. Debris shot into the truck and covered Percy as the sound of squealing tires and the smell of burning rubber filled his senses.

Looking up, Percy watched as the vehicle over shot him before braking hard in kind. Percy threw his the truck into reverse and, with his tires squealing in protest, took off fast in the other direction. However after only a few meters, Percy broke and slammed the vehicle back into drive. The maneuver had successfully baited the last SUV into attempting a three-point turn, to turn back and come after him. However, before the SUV was able to complete its turnaround, Percy's truck was already on top of it again. Percy's heavier, and more durable truck smashed through the front of the SUV sending it spiraling before flipping onto its side completely.

As Percy took off in the direction of the rendezvous point, he was immensely happy that they had chosen a Sunday for their extraction, as the streets were predominantly clear. Seeing that the coast was, for the moment, clear, Percy radioed in.

"Guess my friends decided to go home early tonight guys, they weren't in much of a playful mood today after all."

Clint's voice came over his earpiece; his voice was calm but serious. "Unfortunately you seem to have attracted the attention of the neighborhood watch, expect more company coming your way here soon."

"Think I should ditch the car?" Percy asked, turning around down a narrow side street.

"Depends on how much far you're willing to run." Was Clint's reply,

"Well I don't think anybody saw my face, if I ditch the truck quickly enough I should be able to walk to the rendezvous point with relatively little hassle."

"Alright, then find someplace inconspicuous, that means not obvious-"

"I know what it means jerk, I'm dyslexic, not illiterate."

"It's hard to tell with you sometimes, better to be safe than sorry you know?" and before Percy could rebuttal he said, "ditch the car and meet at the rendezvous and be quick about it, the fuzz is coming down hard. Nat, sitrep."

Natasha's voice crackled through, "Extraction was a success, the doctor and the team are their way out of the city now, making my way towards the waterfront now. Did you have fun on your play date Percy?" She asked, her voice taking on the tone of mother talking to a small child at the end. Deciding not to rise to the bait Percy simply said,

"Of course, in fact-oh crap." A slew of flashing lights filled his rearview and side-view mirrors as a flood of Budapest law enforcement officers bore down on his truck, "Fuzz is on me, breaking radio contact, see you at Point Bravo, out.", And with that Percy cut communications with his team, dug out his earpiece, and crushed it in his hand. He didn't need the distractions, and if he were caught, he would likely be disavowed and didn't want any blowback on his team. Better people thought he was a wackjob working alone, than as a member of an elite Special Forces unit.

As the first of the squad cars came within striking distance Percy's mind began to race. For him, it was a reoccurring moral quandary. Quite often, he was forced into situations that put him at odds with everyday people, simply trying to go about doing their business. He did not know the man or woman behind the wheel of the vehicle behind him. He had no idea what kind of person they were like, whether or not they had a family, and whether or not they were a true and honest person, or scum of the earth. All he did know, was that to them, today had been an average day, where they had gone about doing everything as usual, right up until Percy and his team had invaded their homeland, and disrupted the monotony of everyday life.

It was exactly because of this invasion into their lives that Percy had a hard time defending himself against those, who were simply just trying to do their job. Often times, he outright refused to fight back against local law enforcement officers or security personnel as a matter of principle. For the most part, they were not pawns or units in some evil maniacal organization with designs on world domination, but rather, were simply every day individuals going to work to support themselves and their family like anyone else. What right did Percy have to potentially jeopardize their lives in that way? Percy's oddly ironic pacifistic and highly moralistic approach to his job had landed him in hot water before, both literally and with the director. But Percy stuck by his morals; he was nothing if not something of an idealist.

However, Percy's internal ramblings were cut short as his decision on his next course of action was made for him. Aggressively. Before he was even fully aware of what was going on, the street in front of him, suddenly and surprisingly exploded. His truck was sent careening through the air as landed side over side. Percy was thrown around violently in the cab of the truck, bouncing harshly off the dashboard, then the door. The passenger side door was violently ripped off its hinges as the truck bounced. Another explosion erupted behind Percy's truck causing the vehicle to tumble over several more times. Percy's head collided violently with the steering wheel one more time, and his vision went black.

BREAK

When he came to, he was hanging upside down. It took several moments for him to orient himself, as well as remember what the hell was going on. Groggily, he reached on hand up to a small button on his neck plate. Pressing it down, a small injector slid out from the backpack he was still wearing, and into a vein in his back. Slowly, water was pumped directly into his body via a modified IV drip. The steady stream of water into his body was enough to clear the fogginess from his mind and he began to think clearly. Reaching up to where his feet were stationed in the drivers well, he unclipped a knife from his leg holster, and sliced through the seat belt holding him down.

He managed to slightly catch himself before he completely ate it on the ground, and he crawled through the broken window and out into the debris pile around the truck. After the second explosion had rocked the truck, it had slid into the side of a nearby building, which had partially collapsed on top of it. The driver side back window had been shattered completely. Percy reached a hand inside and deftly felt around for a moment before found what he was looking for. When he pulled his hand out, clutched in his palm was a small black case. He opened it up and grabbed the small communications device that was inside. Slipping it on he set about making a hail.

"Nat, Clint, you guys there?" He ducked down as a string of gunfire rattled off somewhere in the distance, things had apparently gone to hell pretty quickly while he was out, and judging by the position of the sun, it hadn't been all that long, maybe only an hour or two.

"We're reading you Percy" came Natasha's smooth voice over the comm, though she would likely have been loathe to admit it, Percy was certain that he could detect a faint hint of relief in her voice. "Where the hell have you been, you were meant to be at the rendezvous point over an hour ago."

"I know" Percy said, as he peeked around the corner of the slightly destroyed building his truck had crashed into. "I got a little sidetracked. Pretty sure I got hit with the opening salvo of the civil war."

"Of course you did." Said Clint sardonically, over the radio. "Why the hell wouldn't it have been you."

"It's not my fault that Murphy is perpetually out to get me." He retorted as he darted out from behind his cover. He had gathered his bearing enough to pinpoint how far he was away from where Clint and Natasha were supposed to be waiting for him.

"Have you considered it's because you're an asshole? Cause I'm pretty sure it because you're an asshole."

"Big talk coming from a bipedal bird. Tell short-stack, what's it like being three feet tall?"

"All birds are bipedal you-"

"Children. Stop bickering or I'll personally put you both in timeout." Natasha cut off before Clint or Percy could continue bickering. However, Percy couldn't help himself.

"Yes mom" muttered Percy sarcastically. As he rounded the next corner however, any further witty repartee was cut off as the shell from an old 1991 M1A1 Abrams main battle tank rumbled through a building and into the street several yards passed his position. Percy fell backwards with a startled yelp, shouting into his communicator.

"They have freaking tanks? Where in the hell did they get a freaking tank? Were we told to expect tanks, because I sure as hell wasn't expecting to see a tank here! Nat! What the hell!?"

"Oh yeah" came Natasha's voice, the sound of gunfire crackling over the speaker behind her, "Forgot to mention that the satellite imaging was showing that the resistance had managed to scrounge together a couple of those old Abrams the US government sold to Hungary in the early nineties."

Meanwhile, the tank crew must have spotted Percy before he could fully get himself behind cover. The main gun of the MBT shifted and the engine roared slightly as the machine lumbered forward towards Percy's position. Shortly thereafter, the wall Percy had been using as cover exploded as a shell slammed into it. Percy had dived out and away from the blast just in time, but was still covered in dust and debris.

"Well that…really sucks." He said lamely, "How the heck am I supposed to break it?"

"Can't you deadlift a locomotive?" asked Clint, incredulous.

Percy gritted his teeth, "That was one time but yes. And I would, but I was told that after Beirut I needed to keep a low profile."

"Please don't bring up Beirut again. After that nonsense in the Catacombs, I couldn't sleep for a week. I'm pretty sure that I'm still scarred on my-"

"We got word 20 minutes ago that outgoing satellite imaging and radio broadcast signals are being effectively jammed." Natasha cut across Clint, "Go wild kiddo."

Percy paused for a second and blinked. Then allowed a slightly viscous smile to spread across his lips.

"Say no more."

"One last thing, I just received word that the package has been successfully delivered out of the city. Unfortunately the original LZ has been blocked off so we'll retreat to our secondary extraction points. We'll go radio silent from here. Have fun Waterboy, we'll see you at home." And with that, the line went dead for a final time. It was all the invitation that Percy needed though.

Percy blinked blankly for a moment, processing the sudden flurry of new information. Them, slowly, a feral grin worked its way onto his face as he felt the familiar thrill of adrenaline begin to shoot through his veins. It had been entirely too long since he had been able to cut loose, he was going to make sure to enjoy this. The promise of action and adventure had been his draw to the organization after all. The promise that he would and could make a life for himself doing what he did best and what he loved to do the most; fight. The fact that for the first time in a long time, it had been entirely his decision, and not the choice of fate or interfering higher beings had been a factor too.

He rolled his shoulders and stretched out his neck, enjoying the light popping as he stretched out his joints. Breathing slowly, he quieted out the world around him, until he was only focused on himself. Reaching out with his will, he began to feel every drop of water, be it in the air, ground, or person. The sensation brought him to ease and, just as the tank rolled around the corner, he pounced.

Rolling to the side he leapt into the air and grabbed onto the barrel of tanks canon. Using it like a kip bar, he propelled himself over the tank, landing just behind it. As he did so, he drew on the ambient water in the air and created a large aquatic war hammer construct. With a mighty heave he slammed the hammer into the treads of the tank. The treads shattered and shrapnel was thrown into the air. Percy pulled back on his construct again and crushed a rear set of the wheels, tearing two off of their axels completely. The tank listed heavily to its injured side.

Whoever was driving the tank attempted, in vain, to maneuver around and escape their attacker, however with the treads destroyed and several wheels either broken or fallen off, the MBT was halted. The driver quickly gave up on the maneuver and instead, the mounted canon began swiveling to take aim. Percy heard the familiar 'KER-CHUNK' of the ammo drum being slammed into position on the machines forward mounted anti-personnel guns. He decided that he really did not want to have to deal with that so Percy hopped up onto the rear rack of the MBT.

Gripping under the swiveling cannon he pulled up hard. With the painful creaking sound of bolts and metal being shaved and shifted against one another the cannon was pulled free and Percy tossed it carelessly away to the side. It thudded hard on the pavement and landed upside down, completely useless. Percy's feat of strength was not met with thunderous applause, as he thought it should have been, given the enormity of what he had just done. Instead he was met with the stunned, shocked, scared, and slightly awed faces of the tanks crew. Opting for a cheeky smile, Percy simply waved at the disbelieving faces before hopping off the side of the tank and gripping the bottom of two of the wheels hard. Lifting up. He flipped the tank over so the remaining wheels were facing upwards and the tanks occupants were trapped.

With a contented smile, Percy turned and extended his will outward, he was still at least a mile away from the Danube, his point of extraction, and there was a city full of hostile enemy combatants to wade through. With another crack of his neck, he smiled and took off at a jog towards the direction of the river.

Life was good.

 _AN: What's up true believers?! Just wanted to thank everyone for the positive reception of the first chapter, I'm glad ya'll enjoyed it so much! Thanks again for all of the support. Hope you guys enjoyed this newest chapter, I was pretty happy with the way it turned it out. I also wanted to take a moment and address some concerns I've been getting, this is a rewrite, meaning a lot of the same plot elements and ideas from the Sentinel will be in this story, just hopefully I will have done a better job of portraying things. Additionally, this is not a betrayal fic, Percy does not feel like he was betrayed by the gods. He knew and somewhat agreed with why they did what they did, he just wasn't happy about it. When the opportunity was presented to change the course of his life, he took it. He doesn't hate them and he doesn't want revenge or any stupid shit like that, he just wants to live his own life and make his own decisions. Hope that clears up some concerns and addresses some issues I'd been seeing. Anyways, let me know what ya'll think and have a great one._

 _Love,_

 _LilDB_


	3. Sweet Caroline

April 18, 2012

New York

1700 Hours

Percy loved his job, he really did. He got to travel to new and exciting place, meet new and exciting people, and get into new and exciting trouble. It was a great way to make a living, and have a lot of fun along the way. What he did not enjoy however, and what he vehemently hoped he would never learn to enjoy, was all of the after action reports and debriefings that came along with his work. When he watched old spy movies as a kid, they interestingly left out how much boring paperwork and meetings with secretaries, defense associates and undersecretaries for various important political and military figures. He hadn't even known what an undersecretary was until a he started working for the organization.

As a result, it took nearly 2 days after he and his team were out of Budapest, before he was finally on a chartered plane back to New York. Clint had opted to stay at headquarters for a while, saying he would catch the next flight. Flights with Percy over the lower forty-eight tended to be…turbulent, to say the least. But Natasha didn't mind, saying the movement actually helped her fall asleep. Percy was fairly certain that meant she was a psychopath but then he remembered who he was talking to, and chose to keep that particular thought to himself.

Amazingly, the flight from D.C. to JFK was smooth, suspiciously smooth in fact, but Percy just talked it up to some people finally having more important things to do than act like a petulant child.

"So," said Natasha as they were walking down the escalator toward baggage claim, "Where are you off to next?"

"Home" he said "We've been nonstop for eight months now, I've got a few weeks of leave accumulated since I started and I plan on using at least a few here to recover. I haven't seen mom or Laura in since last year at this point. I'm just gonna enjoy some down time while I can ya know?." Natasha nodded knowingly and Percy added, "You and Clint can stop by of course, Mom loves having you guys around and I know that Laura's been dying to play with her favorite Auntie again. This time a real smile wormed its way across the woman's face. Percy knew that she kept a lot of what had happened to her close to the vest, they all did, its how they survived. But Percy also had some inkling as to some of the inner demons that plagued one of his only friends in the industry. It showed itself whenever she saw Percy's baby sister, Laura. The woman next to him would have such a drastic change in demeanor that she was almost unrecognizable. Suffice to say, after their first introduction, little Laura and Natasha had become rather inseparable when they were together.

"I'd love to" she said softly, her voice sounding dangerously close to wistful, "but not all of us are so lucky." And she bumped her shoulder into his bicep playfully, "Some of us have to work for a living."

"Where are they sending you next?" They had arrived at baggage just as the conveyor belt began turning and luggage began to come out onto the terminal.

"Ukraine. Some big shot Russian oligarch has been trafficking weapons from there to extremist cells in Eastern Europe. Typical undercover, it'll be boring. These big shot general types always talk." Percy snorted and reached to easily snag both his and Natasha's luggage off the carousel as the came by. They turned and began walking toward the exit and the parking structure.

"Maybe to you, the last time I tried interrogating anything-"

"You ended up naked, and hanging upside down by your ankles in a Japanese sweat lodge, said Natasha laughing

"It's not funny!" Percy said indignantly "Rumlow still can't look me in the eye when he talks to me." He grumbled.

Natasha's only response was to laugh more. Percy just shook his and kept walking. When they reached their vehicles, a Black Camaro and '69 Mach 1 mustang respectively, they said their goodbyes and drove off.

Instead of returning to his own midtown apartment overlooking central park however, Percy began making his way toward a small theater in midtown. In spite of what he had said to Natasha he had other immediate plans that didn't revolve around him passing out on his couch. Pulling into a parking garage he checked his watch as he climbed out of the car. It was five to eight, he would only just make it. Setting a brisk pace he made his way down the stairs and out the exit of the garage, walking through the doors of the theater at eight on the nose. Marching swiftly through the lobby he managed to slide into the theater just before the ushers closed the doors.

It only took a quick scan of the crowd to make out his target, the back of her head was visible and instantly recognizable even as the lights in the small auditorium began to come down. He slid smoothly into the empty seat to the right of the woman. However, before Sally Jackson could do more than gape in silent shock, Percy winked at her and put a finger to his lips in a shushing motion. He gestured to the stage as a troupe of young ballerinas walked out and the music started. His mother turned her head, her eyes watering slightly back to the stage and her hand found his on the arm rest. He focused on the small brown haired girl in the first row and sat back to enjoy his baby sister's first ballerina recital.

BREAK

The lights were barely up and the tiny dancers had barely departed the stage before his mother all but jumped on him.

"I can't believe that you're here right now!", she said happily, her large grin threatening to split her face in half, and her eyes watering.

"I wouldn't miss this for anything." He said, embracing her tightly, taking a brief moment to lose himself in the safe and familiar comfort of his loving mother, before turning in her grip to address his stepfather. "Hey there, Paul, how're you doing?" He said, taking a hand off his mother's back and grasping his stepfather's hand tightly

"I'm doing well Percy, hell of a show huh?" He said, pride evident in his eyes.

Percy nodded back to him, sporting a grin of his own, "It was incredible. It seems like every time I watch her she's ten times better than before." Paul laughed and simply nodded his head in agreement. Grabbing his wife on the shoulder slightly, Sally detached herself from Percy, his eyes still shimmering. Percy just gave her a toothy grin in response and the family, as one, walked up to the lobby. They were barely through the door when the backstage doors opened and the dancers poured into the lobby. It didn't take Percy, or Paul all too long to see the small brown haired bullet running their way.

"Oh baby, you were incredible out there, you were so beautiful and graceful" cooed Sally, as she tore away from Percy and hugged her daughter,

"Mom!" groaned Laura Jackson, her face reddening in embarrassment. "People are staring!"

"Don't fight it kiddo, the more you fight it, the tighter the hold becomes." Percy chuckled. Laura turned in her mother's arms, her eyes widening slightly, after all it was not often that she got to see her older brother. He always felt guilty that he wasn't more active in his sister's life. The fact that her reaction to seeing him was always more akin to shock that he was actually around and still kicking rather than just a pleasant, albeit unexpected, surprise hurt. That being said, the small girl was too smart for her own good sometimes, and seemed to understand that he wasn't constantly gone out of choice, but rather out of necessity.

"Percy! You came!" she shouted as she finally found her voice and managed to pry herself free of her mother's grip and launched herself at Percy. He staggered slightly as the small brown bullet rammed into his midsection. Wrapping his arms around her small frame he picked her up. Despite her protests to the contrary she was still small enough that he could do it, and a warm smile making its way onto his face. "You killed it out there tonight short-stack"

"Did you see me during the second act, I was worried I wouldn't hit my mark, because I was missing it rehearsal but I nailed it and Rebecca…" She went on rambling; Percy smiled, he thrived for moments like these, where it was just him and his little but loving family, no stress, no plots to end the world, just family. In his line of work, and even in his times before SHIELD, he found that taking time to appreciate the quiet moments, like this one, were extremely important. When you weren't sure what tomorrow was going to bring, you needed to learn to take advantage of what you had while you had it. Grinning down at Laura as she babbled, he snuck a quick look at mother, and gestured softly to the doors. Nodding at him, a watery smile on her face as she watched her children, Sally grabbed Paul by the hand and began steering their way out of the small building, saying goodbye to a few of Laura's friends along the way. They were out into the parking garage before Laura rounded on him completely,

"Where is it?" she asked, her eyes dancing in the reflection of the spring moon. Of course he knew that she was referring to the present currently sitting in the backseat of his car, but he wasn't going to fold that easily, he was made of sterner stuff. Or at least that's what he liked to believe at any rate. The truth was though that he could withstand torture, interrogation and every type of malicious evil associated with his type of employment, but he could never last more than five minutes when looking at little Laura Jackson.

Dammit.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about" He said innocently. He would at least make her work for it a little bit. Out of the corner of his he could see that his mother and Paul had stopped walking and began watching the interaction with a familiar look of fondness and amusement. They could at least try and help him out here couldn't they? Yeah right. They absolutely loved to watch him sweat.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about" She demanded squeakily stomping her foot down to the ground in a painfully familiar way and dammit he most certainly did not coo, he was far too macho for that. He wouldn't break though and opted instead to raise a brow in mock confusion; he deserved an Oscar for this,

"Where's my present, you always bring a present." She demanded,

"Well maybe I might have picked something up when I was abroad." He said airily, waving his hand non-committedly as he did so. "But if I did potentially have something for you" he started, crouching down so they were at eye-level "That wouldn't be the way to go about asking for such things now would it?" He would be the first to admit that he spoiled her rotten but no one could say that he wasn't drilling common courtesy into her head either. She rolled her eyes but acquiesced,

"May please have my present Percy." Seeing no point in denying her any longer, he motioned for her to stop and close her eyes, before telling her that he would be right back. He briskly walked the remaining few feet to his car before unlocking it, reaching into the backseat, and plucking out the three small packages that were sitting on the leather bench in his backseat.

"All right kiddo, you can open your eyes" he said with a quiet smile dancing on his lips. Her eyes shot open as she grabbed at the package he was holding out, shouting a quick

"Thank you Percy!" as she tore into the wrapping. Laughing he tossed the other two presents to his mother and Paul nodding at them in answer to their questionable looks. As Laura squealed in delight, clutching onto her new handmade doll, and his mother and step-mother gasped in surprised delight at their own gifts, a set of texts from the state library in Budapest for Paul, and quill and ink set for his mother. As he watched his family exclaim excitedly over their new found treasures, Percy felt a wave of peace and happiness wash over him for the first time in months.

Tonight was a good night.

BREAK

Pizza, beer, family, and baseball, this was definitely better than another lonely night in his apartment, on his couch. Stretching his arms above his head he stood, blithely listening to Paul and Laura argue over baseball, and made his way back to the kitchen to help his mom clean up. Grabbing the nearest stack of dirty dishes and walking over to the sink he set to work, his mother just rolling her eyes exasperatedly at him. She hated it when he tried to help her out around the kitchen; it was her turf, but how could anyone argue against someone like him helping out, it made the process and subsequent clean up that much easier, but she had since given up attempting to argue with him about it. Stubbornness was a familial trait. How long are you back?" She asked quietly, as to not disturb the occupants in the other room.

"I've called in some time off so hopefully a couple of weeks. But you know how things can happen…" he said, tailing off. His mother just nodded resignedly. While she was happy and proud of her son for the path he was forging for himself, she knew that his life was a dangerous one and that it could begin to wear on a person before too long. There was also the ever selfish desire to simply have her baby boy home and with her for more than a few days at a time. He was a warrior, she knew that even she didn't like to admit it, and deep down she also knew that he would never be able to just sit down and have a normal nine-to-five job. He just wasn't programmed that way.

She sighed, a low and pitiful sound that wrenched his heart a little, before putting on a smile, that smile that she always wore when she tried to hide how she was truly feeling. He knew that his being away scared her, the uncertainty that came whenever he walked out the door, that he might never walk back through it. He set down his dishes and wrapped her up in a tight hug, hoping that she understood what he was trying to get across to her. He had never been very good at expressing himself, but she always managed to understand him perfectly. Mom's, there really is nothing that they can't do.

"So" she began, breaking off the hug and turning back towards the dishes, "are you seeing anyone yet, I don't like the idea of you constantly coming home to an empty apartment, it's not good for you." He rolled his eyes. Here we go."And don't give me that old 'I'm never home and it wouldn't be fair to her' malarkey, there are plenty of nice young ladies out there who would kill for a charming and handsome young man like you"

"Mom-" he began, before she cut him off,

"And I know that you're not still hung on Annabeth so please don't feed me that nonsense either"

"If you would just-" he tried again, "How about that nice girl down the hall from you? Or maybe even Natasha? She's nice!"That made him pause, he had introduced Nat and Clint to his family a little over a year ago, and they joined him periodically to family dinners, but him and Natasha? He couldn't stop himself, it started as a light chuckle, which quickly evolved into laughter, and then outright guffawing. His mother shot him a venomous glare, obviously not appreciating his levity. He wiped the tears from his eyes as he straightened up and tried to sort himself out a little. He took a breath and composed himself before attempting to address his mother, "Listen mom, I appreciate the thought but no, just no, ignoring protocols about interdepartmental relations, she is not my type."

"Well why's that?" She demanded, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes again, she just would not let this go. "Hard to have a trusting relationship with someone who lies for a living." He said sarcastically.

"Well you didn't say anything about that cute woman in your hall, what's her name again? Karen?

"Carol" he corrected, and she smirked victoriously, as though she had just won some mighty battle. Which to her credit, she kind of did. Percy had first met his beautiful blonde neighbor the day he moved into his apartment, she had been in the process of doing her laundry when they quite literally ran into each other on the stairs. After apologizing and exchanging greetings, Carol had offered to help Percy move in the rest of his stuff. The woman had even offered to buy pizza and beer as a welcome to the neighborhood gift. It had been a marvelous start to an even more wonderful friendship.

The two were nigh on inseparable when Percy was home, she was his only real friend left in New York, and from what he had managed to get out of her, he was the same for her. The two were unfortunately very tight lipped about their own lives though, so while Percy could tell you the woman's favorite movie, The Goonies, and that her favorite color was blue, he had no idea what she did for a living or who she was outside the apartment. Percy didn't have much room to complain however, as for the most part he had needed to fabricate his entire life story upon meeting her. As far as she was aware, he was some sort financial assistant working for Stark Industries.

It was part of the reason that Percy was hesitant to try and further their relationship. Despite the fact that the two were clearly heavily invested in one another, Percy didn't feel comfortable starting out any kind of romantic relationship, on the basis of a lie. Natasha called him a coward, but then again, her idea of a romantic relationship seemingly involved a knife and heavy ordinance, so maybe she wasn't the one to be taking dating advice from.

"Well what about Carol then." His mother asked, pulling him from his musings, he opted to just deflect again.

"Just let it go mom, I'll find someone on my own time, ok? And besides, I'm just…" He was unsure how to say how he really felt, it had been so long that he couldn't properly formulate the words necessary to express the conflicting emotions he felt whenever these talks sprang up. He somehow didn't think his mother would appreciate, 'I'm just not certain I'll ever live long enough to marry someone' as an excuse for his lack of a dating profile.

"I'm just happy with where I am right now. Besides, isn't better to just let these kinds of things happen naturally?" he hoped he conveyed his desire to end the conversation clearly enough. His mother simply sighed in response, before tiredly nodding her head and shooting him a sad, albeit sympathetic smile.

They turned away and did the rest of the dishes in silence.

BREAK

It was late when he finally got back to his apartment that night. It seemed as though nearly everyone else in the complex had made the wise decision to retire for the evening, which was exactly what Percy wanted to do as he sluggishly climbed the stairs to his apartment. He fumbled around with his keys for a moment before he managed to fit the correct one into the lock. He was mid-way through opening the door when a voice stopped him in his tracks,

"Well hey there stranger. Long time no see." Unbidden a smile worked its way onto his face as he turned to address the speaker. She was a vision, standing tall in her doorway in her Looney Tunes pajama bottoms and tank top. Her hair was frazzled and she looked tired, but the smile on her face seemed to light up the entire room, and for a moment, he forgot his aches and his pains and his fatigue.

"Hey yourself." He said back to her. She spread her arms apart and he met her halfway as they embraced in a comforting hug. For a moment, he allowed himself to be lost in the tangles of her hair and the smell of her perfume and simply existed. It felt right. It felt like home. She pulled back and lightly slapped him across the chest,

"Where the hell were you mister, you missed our last three movie nights." She was glaring, but the laughter in her eyes and the slight twitching of her lips belied any actual anger or malice. She knew that his work often took him away at a moments notice for ling stretches of time. He was usually able to get some kind of message to her before he left, but the Budapest job had sprung up so quickly that he hadn't been able to even tell his mother let alone Carol.

He frown apologetically, "I know, I know and I'm sorry but we had some last minute issues pop up and the company needed me. I only flew in a few hours ago. Budapest is nice by the way, you should visit sometime." He had meant it as a joke but gasped lightly and stepped back from him, her arms holding onto his biceps as she looked him up and down, as though scanning for possible deformities. He raised an eyebrow, "I know I look good but at least be subtle about it." She glared at him again and smacked him a little harder this time in the chest.

"I'm sorry if I get a little worried when my best friend tells me he just got out of a literal warzone" she said icily, releasing him and stepping back as she folded her arms over her chest. He winced, for several reasons. Firstly, he felt like a first-rate asshole. He had somehow managed to forget that to get out of Budapest he needed to fight through a literal civil war. Of course she would be worried about him, it was the natural response, and, if he was honest, made his chest constrict in a way that was not all too unpleasant. Secondly however, was that he had slipped up again, and mentioned he was someplace he really should not have been. He had a bad habit of doing that around her.

He approached and she didn't resist when he wrapped her up in a gentle, but reassuring embrace. He rested his chin on top of her head and gently stroked her hair. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you but I promise that I'm okay" he said softly. After a moment of silence, while the two simply enjoyed the presence of the other he asked, "You working tomorrow?"

Her chuckle rumbled against his chest and stirred something inside him that he tried to squash. "Since tomorrow is Sunday, no I don't." He rolled his eyes but smiled. Pulling apart he nodded his head back towards his apartment and said, "Well I tell you what, I know for a fact I got a freezer full of chocolate ice cream and a bootleg DVD of Pirates of the Caribbean. I know it's a few days late but what do you say we have a little impromptu movie night?"

Her smile could have powered the sun itself, and the two happily walked into Percy's apartment, laughing and joking together.

He was happy.

 _AN: Good evening true believers! A little bit of a shorter chapter but a necessary one to help further Percy's own character as well as plant the seeds for things to come. For those worried that I wasn't going to bring Carol back I hope I alleviated your concerns ;) joking aside I was always going to bring her back, her and Percy's relationship was no way what I wanted previously and I wanted to give the two a better chance at it. Anyways thanks again for all of the support and love, you guys are awesome and are what drives me to write. As always hope you had fun with this chapter, and let me know what ya'll think!_


	4. Castle Walls

May 2, 2012

New York

2300 Hours

"You're joking, right?"

"Hand on heart, I'm being completely serious."

"How do you accidently fire a cannon?" Carol asked incredulously. Percy sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, his face reddening slightly out of embarrassment.

"It's… complicated." He said simply. For a moment, Carol didn't say anything. Instead she just stared at him from her side of the couch. Tonight had been there weekly bad movie and bad wine night. Once week, they tried to get together to watch the cheesiest movies they could find, eat greasy food, and drink boxed wine. It was usually Percy's favorite day of the week.

After a while she finally moved. She shook her head lightly and smiled as she said, "The more that I learn about you, the more questions I have."

He responded with an easy grin of his own ,"I like to keep things interesting.". A comfortable silence fell between them again as they turned their attention back to the movie. But Percy wasn't paying it any attention. Instead he was trying to come to a decision. For the last several weeks he had been wrestling with the decision to tell Carol the truth. As his only real mortal friend, lying to her about who and what he was hurt him. It wasn't fair to her that he was keeping such a large part of who he was away from her.

More than that though, he really liked the woman. He could see a possible tomorrow with the two of them in it and he didn't want to go any longer wondering if he should have taken the chance. Besides, in his life, he didn't have the luxury of waiting around or dancing around the issue. Not anymore. Protocol and decorum be damned, he didn't care what SHIELD had to say about who he told and he sure as hell didn't care about the Others.

With his mind set, he turned towards the woman. "Carol.." he began slowly and she turned to him, a smile in her eyes that he couldn't help but return, "there's something that I've been meaning to talk to you about." She looked concerned for a moment but nodded and paused the movie. There had been something in his tone that clearly told her that what he wanted to say had gravity to it. She shifted so that she was better facing him,

"What is it, you know that you can tell me anything right?"

He swallowed thickly, and not just because when she adjusted her shirt had rolled up exposing her naval. "Of course I do." He said softly, and his mouth refused to work. He just didn't know how to continue. He didn't know how to convey that he had been lying to her essentially since he had first met her. It was too late now though, she could clearly see this was important and wouldn't let him drop it even if he wanted to.

She reached across the couch and put a hand lightly on his arm, and a tingle shot through him from the point she touched. She looked even more concerned now, "Percy….What's going on? Are you ok?"

He nodded again and took a breath, "Yeah, I just…I don't know how to say it in any other way so I'm just gonna you know say it, Carol I-" he was cut off however by Carol's phone ringing from across the room. They both turned to stare at it and when she gave him a look he sighed and nodded that whatever he had to say could wait. Almost apprehensively, with a look he couldn't quite discern in her eye, she stood up and answered the phone.

She answered slightly confused, but that confusion rapidly turned into utter bewilderment. She slowly walked over to Percy and handed him the phone, "It's for you…" she said slowly. Percy took a moment but eventually he reached out and grabbed it. When he did he thought, for the briefest second, that he saw anger flash through Carol's eyes but it was gone just as quickly.

Putting the phone to his ear he asked, "Hello?"

"We need you to come in", Coulson's voice came through the speaker.

Deciding to throw caution to the wind, since he was going to tell her anyway, he decided not to play coy. "Are you people seriously spying on my neighbors now? How the hell did you even know I was here."

"Jackson, this is serious."

"Yeah and so am I. The world had better be ending for you interrupt my leave like this"

He didn't notice the way Carol's body stiffened as he said that,

"It is. We have one of yours in custody on the Helicarrier." Percy froze, before his features hardened,

"Who?"

"Loki, the trickster. Captain Rogers and Mr. Stark captured him in Germany this evening before they encountered his brother Thor. He appears to be on our side but we want you to come in, this is your jurisdiction."

"You know I'm not allowed to interact with Pantheons like that, it pisses them off."

"Since when do you care?"

"Since there are people in my life that I don't want to see hurt because of me."

"You mean like Ms. Danvers?" He gritted his teeth and he felt Carols place a hand on his shoulder, looking up he saw her looking down at him in worry. He sighed and relaxed his features and grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. She squeezed back, a mutual sign of assurance.

"Look, Coulson, I don't know what you want me to-"

"Agent Barton has been compromised"

Percy's eyes narrowed. He could ignore a lot but one thing he certainly couldn't ignore was when his friends and comrades were threatened. "Gimme two hours."

"You have one". And the line went dead. Percy sighed and threw the phone into the cushions on the couch. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and felt another squeeze on his shoulder. He stood up and turned to face Carol,

"Look Carol I-"

"Percy, it's ok." She cut across, they were standing on opposite sides of her couch now, facing one another, however he couldn't quite bring himself to look her in the eye, instead he focused in on the top of the couch.

"No it's not!" he said aggressively, though she knew his frustration wasn't directed at her but rather himself, "I lied to you, I have been lying to you and that was wrong."

"Yes it was, but you're going to tell me aren't you?" He still wasn't looking at her.

"Of course I am! I had wanted to for a while but I was just… I don't know…"

"Scared?" she supplied unhelpfully, and his shoulders sagged in defeat.

"Yeah, I guess so." She laughed softly and Percy felt her take his face in her hands as she forced him to finally look at her,

"I think I'll reserve the right to mad at you when I have a more clear understanding of what exactly you're talking about. Am I confused? Absolutely, but I trust you Percy. I know you, and I know that whatever is going on, you had a good reason to try and hide it. Besides, we're all allowed our secrets aren't we?"

He nodded and leaned into her touch slightly as she caressed his cheek, "I promise, I'll explain everything to you when I get back." His voice was little more than a whisper,

"You'd better, your friend interrupted date night." Her own voice was a whisper now as well. He grabbed her hand with both of his and pressed them tightly together. He was trying to say everything he couldn't in that one gesture. Then, with tremendous effort he pulled away and left the apartment behind. As the door closed behind him, Carol collapsed onto the couch. She reached under the small table in front of her and opened the hidden compartment on the underside. From the compartment she pulled out a small rectangular device. It was a communications relay, one she'd had for a long time now. Like always, the screen was blank.

No new messages.

BREAK

SHIELD Helicarrier

Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean

May 2, 2012

0100 Hours

The mood on board the Helicarrier was bleak as the monitor above the small conference table went black. Steve better known to the world as Captain America, Natasha, Bruce Banner, and the being known as Thor had just finished listening in to a conversation between Fury and Loki. Thor was standing off on his own by one of the viewports, seemingly lost in thought.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner asked, sarcastically.

Steve ignored him, "Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve's question seemed to shake Thor out of whatever trance he had been in. As he turned back to the room at large he looked tired, haggard.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract." Steve looked incredulous,

"An army? From outer space?" Banner responded, more to himself than anyone else, "So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for."

That seemed to wake Thor up as he turned to Banner questioningly, Selvig?" "He's an astrophysicist." Replied Banner,

"He's a friend." Steve started at the almost possessiveness in Thor's voice, it seemed that the man, for Steve refused to call whatever he was a god, was fiercely loyal and protective of his friends. He hid a small smile, he could respect that.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell" said Natasha for the first time, "along with one of ours."

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's powerful, and he put up almost no fight. He wants to be here and I don't know why. He's not leading an army from here." He said but

Banner brushed off the concern,

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him."

Thor rounded on him, anger radiating off him, "Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother"

"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha deadpanned.

Thor had the sense to look sheepish as he turned away, and offered weakly, "He's adopted." Banner carried on valiantly,

"Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Came Stark's voice as he walked on to the deck with Coulson. He said something to Coulson, finishing up a conversation they'd clearly been having before walking into the room. Coulson rolled his eyes at whatever Stark said and walked away. Stark swaggered on, "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD." He walked past Thor, smacking him on the arm as he did so, "No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing." He stopped in front of the control panel where Fury directed the Helicarrier, "Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants." He turned and began playing around with knobs at the panel, "Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship the top sails." "That man is playing GALAGA! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." Said agent shrunk a little in his seat but wasn't swayed.

Stark covered one eye and continued analyzing the controls, "How does Fury do this?" he asked Hill who looked thoroughly unamused.

"He turns" she said dryly "Well, that sounds exhausting." Stark muttered, "The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube." He punctuated the end of his statement with a snap of his fingers.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" glared Hill, visibly ruffled by Starks presence on her bridge. "Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?"

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked,

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier" was Banner's reply,

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect." Said Stark, turning with renewed interest and mischievous glint in his eye,

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet." Said Banner thoughtfully, Stark clapped his hands together, delighted.

"Finally, someone who speaks English."

"Is that what just happened?" Steve questioned,

Stark approached Banner, hand outstretched and said, "It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

Banner looked like he had absolutely no response to that and simply shook the mans hand with slightly perturbed, "Thanks…"

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." Announced Fury as he strode into the room.

"Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon." Said Steve, looking relieved to finally have something to contribute again. Fury eyed him briefly and shrugged it off,

" I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" questioned Thor, bewilderment written on his face, "I don't understand"

"I do!" Shouted Steve a little to enthusiastically, and then, he straightened back up and said a little more quietly, looking thoroughly pleased with himself, "I understood that reference" Stark rolled his eyes.

Natasha intervened quickly, "Is he here yet?" she asked, eyeing Fury who nodded.

"Just got on board while I was speaking with Loki. He's on his way now."

"I'm sorry am I missing something? I feel like I'm missing something." Said Stark, who had turned his attention away from Banner who looked relieved, "Who is on his way? Is our little boy band getting another member? Cause I gotta be honest I don't think I'll be able to share the spotlight."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not here to play games." Said a new voice from the doorway as Percy strode purposefully onto the deck of the Helicarrier. He ignored Natasha's warning glance as he slipped his jacket off and threw it on the table. "What the hell Fury"

"Nice of you to join us Jackson, please make yourself comfortable." Fury said sarcastically, crossing his arms and glaring Percy's way. Percy wasn't fazed however, and glared right back.

"Cut the crap Fury, what's going on?"

Fury jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Thor, "Your people are making my life a living hell Jackson. That's what's going on."

"I am nobody's man but my own" Thor countered hotly, glaring in Percy's direction. Then as he truly began to take in Percy's appearance his anger turned to outright fury he reached out a hand and called Mjolnir to him. Percy tensed and extended his will outward as the humidity in the room increased to the point where the occupants felt like they were standing in a wall of water. Steve and Natasha stood as Steve grabbed his shield off the table and prepared to intervene. Meanwhile in the corner, Banner tried to edge out of the room while Stark slowly positioned himself between the scientist and they clashing men.

Before it could come to blows, a gunshot brought everyone to their senses as Fury shouted "ENOUGH!" Everyone turned their attention to him, "You start fighting on my bridge and I'll throw your sorry asses off myself"

"What is the meaning of this Fury, why have you brought him before me." Thor rumbled, his voice barely above a whisper, though in the silence that followed Fury's pronouncement, everyone could hear it clearly.

"Because he's like you."

"He is no Asgardian!"

"Like I'd want to be." Percy shot back but was cut off by Fury,

"His daddy is Greek, get it?" Fury asked Thor. It took a moment, but it appeared as if slowly, comprehension dawned on the man's face,

"What is your name boy!" he said after a moment,

"Percy Jackson" he bit out, "and don't call me boy"

A pained look appeared on Thor's visage. He lowered Mjolnir to his side and everyone relaxed and released a breath they didn't realize that they were holding.

"I owe you an apology Perseus. I did not realize whom it was I was talking to. Had I known, I would have never thought to act in such a manner."

"Um does someone want to clue the rest of the class in to what the hell is going on here? What is he talking about?" asked Stark,

"I'd like to know as well." Said Steve, still not taking his shield off his arm. "Anyone who can elicit that kind of a reaction from someone like him, doesn't exactly make me feel comfortable. There's a lot of animosity there for two people who have never met, care to explain."

Percy and Thor shared a look of knowing understanding, and seemed to hold a silent conversation with one another. Neither one breaking eye contact. After a full minute of utter silence Percy finally sighed and leaned back against the bulkhead, running a hand through his hair and suddenly looking far older and more tired than a man his age had any right to. "Fine" he said finally, "But if I catch any heat for this I'm blaming you" he said to Thor, who actually smiled. A large, full mouthed smile showing off his many large white teeth. Percy just glared at him and walked over to the table before collapsing into a chair.

"You see, the Norse Pantheon isn't exactly the only group of deity like beings out there." He sat back, arms still folded, "We know for a fact the Egyptians are still around, the Romans are…kind of….but that's complicated, hell we've even had reason to believe that some of the old Persian gods are out there somewhere, still kicking." Thor looked surprised by this sudden revelation but neither made to comment. "Finally there are the Greeks, that's where I come in."

Steve had a sudden sinking suspicion in the pit of his stomach that he very much hoped was wrong, "You're not about to tell me you're a god are you?" he asked, incredulous. He had hoped for a laugh, or a joke, or something to put him that he was wrong, but Percy merely smiled, a very sad, very tired smile. "Well, that would only be half right. My mom's mortal, you know, a normal human, but my dad is a god. Given my proficiency with water, I'm sure you can figure out which one." Percy paused and gave everyone a moment to try and think on what was just revealed.

"Right, ok if you didn't want to tell us the truth that's fine but don't insult us ok Kindergarten cop?" Stark said mockingly,

"Listen Stark I don't care if you believe me or not, I'm just trying to answer your question."

"Well next time, at least think of a better story, now if you'll excuse, the good doctor and I have work to do. Shall We play?"

Banner gestured out of the room, looking incredibly uncomfortable and nodded. The pair left and Percy shook his head in exasperation.

After a second Steve asked, incredulous, "I hate to agree with Stark, but you have to know how utterly ridiculous all of this sounds right?"

Percy nodded and leaned back closing his eyes, "If it helps, the Judeo-Christian god is probably real too, in my experience there's truth to every religion in some aspect so if you're having a crisis of faith or… whatever…you know…don't."

Steve shook his head, as if trying to shake off the information like a spider stuck in his hair. "That still doesn't, really, explain the animosity between the two of you" he said, pointing between Thor and Percy, to which they both nodded.

Thor spoke before Percy had the chance to. "It is less about personal hatred than it is about ancient quarrels and prejudices. The Pantheons are not meant to mingle with one another, there is simply too much power in one place." Percy looked like he had a comment to make about that, but clearly thought better of whatever he was thinking and stayed silent. "When two peoples of our…standing for lack of a better word, clash" Thor continued, "There is almost always a fight to be had. I actually hold young Perseus here in very regard." He said with a large smile, one Percy was glad to return.

"Well now that we're all friends, maybe we can get back to why the hell we're all here." Fury said. Percy and Thor broke apart and turned to address the man.

"What do we know" Percy asked, all business.

Fury quickly filled Percy in on his interrogation with Loki and what they had discovered during their encounter in Germany.

"That sounds like it was way too easy." Percy said frowning.

Steve nodded in agreement, "I said the same thing, I know his type and they never just give up like that."

Percy shook his head and shared a look with Thor, "It's not just that though. Look, Asgardians are strong, like some of the strongest beings out there. Loki might not have the sheer brute strength of our buddy here." He clapped Thor on the back, "but he still should have been able to do more than that." Furthermore, you said that Thor and Stark were fighting? Who the hell was watching Loki while all of that was happening?"

Steve and Natasha shared a look before Natasha answered, "I was still in the jet and Steve was in free-fall, if they." She gestured at Thor, "Weren't watching him then nobody was."

"So then why the hell doesn't he leave. The man can use magic, there's literally nothing keeping him there. The only reason he's there is because he wants to be, but why."

"Maybe he was hoping that Thor and Stark would kill each other, make things easier for him." Said Steve, though he sounded unsure.

"Maybe" Percy agreed halfheartedly. "Whatever his reasons though, I don't like it, and I don't like that he seems like the only one who actually wants to be on this ship right now." Shaking himself, he addressed Steve again, "Sorry after all the excitement I forgot that we hadn't actually met yet. I'm Percy, Percy Jackson." He extended his hand which the Captain grasped in a strong grip.

"Steve Rogers, it's a pleasure."

Fury, who had been working on something on a tablet looked up and addressed Nat, "Widow, I want you to have a go at Loki, figure out what the hell is plan is and what he's trying to do." Natasha nodded, sparing a glance at Percy she stood and left. Thor spared a nod in Percy's direction before he rounded on Coulson and pulled the man into a discussion about something.

Percy took the cue, and addressed Steve, "A couple of soldiers here won't be of any help, let's go make sure Stark doesn't startle the good doctor green huh?" he asked and Steve nodded, following the man's lead out the door. It was in that time that Steve got take decent measure of the new man. The way the man walked, and carried himself was different from everyone else on bored. It was a walk of purpose and faux casualness. To the casual observer he would appear to be completely at ease but to the trained eye it was clear that the man was tensed and ready to spring into action at a moments notice. Steve felt himself relax slightly around the man. Among all the scientists, spies, gods, and monsters, Steve Rogers had finally found another person he could relate to. Without having to even ask, he knew what the man with him was.

He was a soldier.


	5. TNT

It was the shaking that eventually woke him. Or rather, it was the impact from hitting the nearest bulkhead as a result of the shaking that woke him. He felt his eyes jolt open before abruptly closing again as a wave of pain and nausea rolled over him. He steadied his breathing and counted backward from ten. When he was finished he slowly opened his eyes again and was able to assess the situation. The lights were off but there was flashing red glow illuminating the hall he was in, courtesy of the warning siren at opposite end of the hall.

He rolled over, having landed from his impact with the wall on his stomach, and slowly backed himself back up against the bulkhead as he tried to dull the ache in his head long enough to remember what the hell was happening. He started with the basics, he was the Helicarrier, the tri-whatever the hell. He had been brought on because of someone on board; Luffy? No that wasn't right, Lucky was wrong too. Loki! The Norse 'god' Loki and his brother Thor were responsible for…something. He couldn't remember what though.

He raised a hand to his head and grimaced. He didn't look as he pulled it away; he knew it was sticky with his own blood. That was good. He was severely concussed. He Screwed his eyes shut again and concentrated, he needed to remember. He and Steve had been walking toward the labs; Banner and Stark were messing around with Loki's scepter while Natasha interrogated Loki. There had been…an argument? He wasn't sure but he remembered Stark and Steve had argued about something and then Steve stormed off. Something about weapons? And the Tesseract? That's right, Stark had hacked the SHIELD database and found out that SHIELD was using the Tesseract to make weaponry. Steve had gone off to try and prove him wrong and what? Percy tried to remember. He was pretty sure that he followed Steve.

He gulped down another breath and flexed his right arm and groaned. Broken, badly too. He thought he could feel pieces of bone moving around freely. He stopped and concentrated again. He remembered now, he had followed Steve and they got into an armory filled with Tesseract tech. The exact same stuff, according to Steve, that Hydra had used against him during the War. Steve had been incensed, had yelled at Percy, and accused him of betraying his trust. Percy frowned, he hadn't known about the weapons but Steve didn't hear any of it, and stormed out of the army back towards the lab. Percy remembered chasing after him. They had walked in as Stark was confronting Fury. Steve and Fury had argued, and then Stark and Steve, and then Banner…Gods above Banner had tried to kill himself.

Percy felt another moan pass out of his mouth as a fresh wave of pain and nausea rolled through. He did his best to ignore it and remember. Banner had been talking about…something, honestly Percy couldn't remember clearly, he had been too focused on Banner had been unconsciously doing. As he had been talking the man had grabbed the scepter, Loki's scepter, from the examination table and had been holding it. That had been when he had realized Loki's plan, Percy remembered. That had been when he had realized why Loki had allowed himself to be captured to easily, he had been trying to control the Hulk to destroy them from the inside. He remembered seeing Natasha, Fury, and himself all slip the cover off the holsters nearly simultaneously. Just as Steve had told Banner about the scepter though something happened.

Then it all came back in vivid clarity and his eyes shot back open. There had been an explosion, one of the turbines had been blown to pieces and they had been thrown off their feet. There had been a secondary explosion and he, Natasha, and Banner had been knocked off their feet. They had been slowly recovering when-

An animalistic roar cut off his thoughts. He looked down the hall and staggered to his feet and began half running, half stumbling down the hallway. Banner had been transformed by the attack. Percy had tried to hold him off long enough for Natasha to escape but they had been in the bowels of the ship and he had been unable to avoid the monstrosity. Percy looked down at his useless right arm and grimaced, it had not been pretty. The Hulk had pulverized him before pile driving him two levels down the ships interior. Percy scowled. Dick move Banner, dick move.

He turned left, then right, then right again and up two flights of stairs. Despite not knowing the interior of the ship his body instinctively knew where it was going. As he moved he fished in his pocket and pulled out a small golden square. He grimaced as he looked at it, it wouldn't heal the damage to his arm but it would keep him active enough to at least help put up a fight against the Hulk when the time came. He shoved it in his mouth as he jumped up the last four steps and took the next hallway to his right at a dead sprint. The effects of the ambrosia immediately revitalizing his exhausted and aching muscles.

He turned right and burst into the subsequent hallway and into a flood of panicked crewmembers. They were in a flurry, all trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and what Percy saw was the main hanger. He only paused briefly before another roar pushed him out of his momentary daze and he closed the distance. As he ran into the hanger he slammed his hand on the automatic security lock, which shut off the Hanger to anyone outside. Or in this case inside. It was a good thing SHIELD built all of their equipment in the exact same way, Percy briefly thought as he surveyed the scene in front of him.

Thor, missing his hammer, was attempting to grapple with the large green monstrosity that was the Hulk. Percy had seen the footage, had watched the grudge match in Harlem between the Hulk and that…whatever the hell it was. He thought he would have been prepared for the real thing, especially given everything else he had seen and experienced in his life. He could honestly say though that only a handful of encounters over the years matched up with the sheer animalistic fury and power that emanated from the being in front of him. Percy looked down at his still shattered arm and swallowed hard. This was going to hurt. A lot.

He charged forward, shouting "Thor! Down!" as he did so. Thor must have been acting on instinct alone as he immediately dropped his grapple and rolled away from the beast. Just as Thor's form disappeared Percy's took his place, a viscous kick to the beast's midsection. With a grunt the Hulk flew through the air only to be immediately smacked out of it courtesy of Thor, who put Hulk down with a haymaker, delivered right to the side of the head. Percy followed up, knowing that the only thing he could was try and buy time. What he was trying to buy time for he didn't know but what he did know, was that there was no way that even with the help of a god, could he beat this monstrosity as he was. He attempted to throw a heavy punch with his left arm but the Hulk stopped him. Painfully. Before Percy could even blink a green hand shot up and smacked Percy across the hanger. He stopped when he crashed painfully into the wing of a jet. He heard more than felt the crack in his back from the impact.

The Hulk didn't give him too much time to recover as he attempted to pounce on Percy, only to be intercepted by a hammer crashing into him. A moment later Hulk was out of his visual line of sight and Thor was next to Percy helping him to his feet.

"We do not have much time before the beast realizes he cannot use Mjolnir." Said Thor quickly "The man, Banner, he is no longer there. We need a plan." Percy nodded quickly,

"We need him off the ship before he breaks it" a new wave of sirens echoed off the walls "more than it already is anyway." Thor hummed in agreement and Percy turned, the hanger doors leading to the loading ramp to the main runway was still open. The ships circuitry must have been more screwed up by the attack than Percy had realized. The doors should have closed when Percy locked down the hanger. He wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth though and turned back to Thor.

"I've got an idea. Help me draw him over to the doorways. Once there we can get him off the ship." Thor nodded again and jumped. Percy followed, hot on his heels. Thor ducked as Hulk swung his arm in attempt to clothesline him. Thor slid passed the swinging arm and grabbed Mjolnir before leveling it into the Hulk's stomach. He launched right at Percy who caught hold of his leg with his arm and swung as hard as he could. With tremendous effort Percy was able to throw the Hulk across the hanger. The Hulk stood up and roared in anger but Percy and Thor were on top of him. Before they could do anything however, the ship suddenly pitched hard and all three lost their balance.

Thor was thrown from his feet and onto several crates but Percy and the Hulk were thrown towards the Hanger doors. The bucking of the ship caused the previously open doors to roll off of their hinges and slide closed just as the Hulk was about to pass through. The Hulk grabbed onto the doors sliding shut and the side of the bulkhead in an attempt to steady himself and keep himself from falling.

Now, over the years Percy had been called many things. But near the top of that list was impulsive. Especially in the heat of battle, with the adrenaline flowing and his blood pumping in his ears, Percy was more prone to acting and reacting than he was to thinking anything through. Which is why, when asked later, what he was thinking when he did what he did, he would simply shrug and say

"It seemed like a good idea at the time"

That being said, he would also admit that trying to tackle the Hulk through the open door with nothing to catch himself on, was definitely in the top ten of his all-time dumb decisions

Especially since it didn't work.

He slammed into the chest of the beast with the force of a Mack truck, wrapping his arms around the Hulk's midsection. H attempted to twist his body and yank backwards, forcing both himself and the Hulk out of the carrier and into the daylight beyond. Unfortunately he had miscalculated the Hulks ability to adapt as well as maybe misjudging his own strengths. If only just a little. In contrast to his plans the Hulk managed to use Percy's own momentum against him and reverse their positions. He pushed off of Percy who, in a sudden fit of desperation threw his arms out to catch himself. It was to no avail because before either Percy or Thor could move quickly enough the Hulk reared back and punched Percy through the opening.

Percy choked back a scream as he heard, more than he felt, his back snap from the force of the punch. With his arms forced up on either side of him, and his attention on balancing himself, he had left himself completely open to the attack and virtually unable to protect, or ready himself.

The force of the punch sent him careening through the air, tumbling head over heels as he plummeted. Between the pain of having his back broken, as well as the gravitational forces pulling him back to earth. Percy quickly lost consciousness. He fell for nearly a minute; the carrier had been losing altitude quickly and was only roughly twenty thousand feet up when he was launched. He was, therefore, completely unaware of the sudden strong gust of winds that picked up seemingly out of nowhere. The winds were strong, but seemingly had a purpose, as Percy's path was altered drastically.

The winds pushed him nearly three miles off of his beginning trajectory. He had previously been on a course that would have turned him into little more than rather ugly red smear, but the winds had positioned him, and were maintaining his position, over a small manmade lake. When he was roughly one hundred feet from impact the water in the lake literally rose up and caught him, not with the force that would have been expected from a fall of twenty thousand feet, but of a small child landing in a bed of pillows. Less than a second later, the lake swallowed Percy's form. The strong winds slowed to a gentle breeze, and the water, which had previously been whipping up in ferocious torrent, settled in a calm mirror once again.

On the bank of the lake, a tall woman, with hair as white as snow that was accentuated by her chocolate colored skin, lowered her arms to her side breathing heavily as her eyes lost their foggy cataracts. She turned to her companion, an stately looking gentleman. The sun shone off of his bald head, and the sleek and chrome wheels of his wheelchair. The man said nothing, instead closing his eyes and steeping his fingers together, seemingly in deep thought. The woman also said nothing, there was no need. They both knew what was happening now; all they could do was wait.

BREAK

Percy was not sure what he was expecting when he opened his eyes. He was certainly not expecting to wake up in a club, and it was most certainly a club. It was dark, hot, and the bar top he was perched at was shaking with the bass of whatever top forty hit was being played. Looking down, he taken aback to see that he was dressed in an immaculate sea green dress shirt, tucked into bright white slacks and black boots. He cautiously looked at his own hands, curious enough his back wasn't hurting and he had full use of his otherwise broken right arm. He narrowed his eyes and dug his nails into the palms of his hands until he drew blood. Or at least he would have, had a hand not reached out and yanked Percy out of his reverie.

He swiveled on his stool, his right arm drawn back, ready to level whomever, or whatever, was responsible for his situation. He stopped however, when he recognized the person standing opposite him and Percy nearly groaned. Of course he would make their point of contact a nightclub. The man in front of his was tall, roughly Percy's height, with sun-kissed blonde hair cut in the latest popular style. His bronzed skin was accentuated by a deep maroon button down, tucked into black slacks with the sleeves rolled to elbows and sitting under a black waist-coat. His eyes were covered in a pair of stylish sunglasses but Percy knew that behind them were orbs of bright blue. Most noticeable about the man though, was the sheer power emanating from him. As though the world could and would stop still at his choosing.

"Long time no speak cuzzo" Apollo smiled, his bright white teeth shining in the dark club. Despite the cacophony of sound around them, and the quiet way in which Apollo addressed him, Percy could still hear the god as clear as if there was no other noise in the room.

"What's going on here Apollo? Why am I here? More importantly, why am I not dead?"

Apollo just smiled, not even fazed by the way Percy brushed him off, "Not your time my man. Couldn't have you kicking the bucket before you were meant to, the Fates would have my beautiful ass in a sling if I let that happen."

"Wait." Percy said confused, "Is this about Loki?"

Percy could practically feel the eye roll "Who else would this be about! Listen kid, the trickster is planning on bringing an army to bear on the planet. That pretty blue cube is acts as a doorway between worlds. I'm not clear on all of the details here, even my spectacularly awesome self has limitations, but I know that they'll be here within the day."

Percy's eyes widened at that. He had been momentarily briefed on the Tesseract before coming onto the Helicarrier, the briefing had clearly failed to include the minute detail that the bright blue box was portal.

"Loki is bringing an alien army?"

"yu-huh"

"Like little green men?"

"Well they're not so little but they're certainly green"

"Aliens are real!"

"You're kinda missing the point here Percy.

"Right, right. Sorry, it's just…like seriously aliens?"

"Of all the shit you've seen in your life you're honestly surprised that there is intelligent life outside of this pretty blue marble we call home?" asked Apollo, a perfectly sculpted brow raised. Percy had nothing to say to that so he stayed quiet. He thought for a moment, before he looked back at the god.

"You wouldn't have dragged my consciousness all the way here just to tell me something I would have figured out on my own anyway. What else is going on here Apollo?"

Apollo's grin threatened to split his face, "See, I knew you weren't as stupid as everyone says." Then all of a sudden the smile, and any trace of a friendly demeanor vanished. The background of the club melted away and Percy found himself standing on a floating rock formation. Looking down he saw he was back in his combat gear and that Apollo had also changed out of his club wear and into attire more suitable for battle. The gods eyes were fixed on something in front of them, Percy followed his gaze and nearly fell over. They were standing in front of an ornate throne, easily as large as the thrones the gods sat upon in the throne of Olympus.

But it wasn't the throne itself that was what shocked Percy; it was the being, for that was the only way Percy could begin to describe it, that was perched upon the throne. It was enormous, easily the size of a small building. Humanoid enough in features to be recognizable but clearly not something of Earth. Then there was the aura the being exuded. Percy felt as though he were sitting in the presence of Zeus at the height of his power. It was smothering and Percy nearly felt his knees buckle beneath him.

"It's name is Thanos," said Apollo quietly, drawing Percy out of his stupor. Percy looked at him quizzically but didn't say anything, letting the god continue. "I don't know who or what he is beyond that but I do know that he is the one pulling the strings here. He gave Loki the army that he's bringing to earth. What he wants, well I don't know that either." Percy could tell that the lack of understanding was frustrating the god.

Percy swallowed hard, his mouth dry, "Is he coming here?" Apollo shook his head, "No, at least not yet." He furrowed his brown in frustration, "I don't know if he's even coming at all but I keep seeing visions of him and I know that he's important. I also can't shake the feeling that he will be coming to earth, if not now then soon."

He then turned to Percy, "I'm not telling you all of this to try and scare or intimidate you or something if that's what your thinking. But the fact that I keep seeing this…thing means something. It's not a prophecy, at least not traditionally, but I wanted to show you this. I wanted you to know what was coming."

"Why?" Percy managed to rasp,

"Because I think both you and I know that whatever comes of this, you're going to be at the damn center of it. I wanted you to know that this was coming so you could be ready for when it does. You are Earth's mightiest hero Perseus, and the time will soon come where the choices you make will either save the planet, or doom it." That sounded entirely too familiar to be comforting,

"Same shit, different day." He muttered under his breath, the throne and Thanos melted from his vision and they were back at the nightclub once again.

"Like I said" started Apollo, the smile and easy going aura back, "Not here to scare you or anything, just make sure you know what's coming so you can get yourself and your little team there ready for it." He checked his watch and whistled, "Yikes you've been gone longer than I thought. Loki's army is nearly here. Look just worry about kicking him and his green scaly friend's asses off of our planet and then you can begin worrying about what's to come. Alright?"

Percy wanted to argue, wanted to ask why the hell Apollo told him any of this if he wasn't supposed to worry about it. What the hell was the point of any of this at all? But before he could voice his concerns Apollo said,

"Good luck Percy, it's time for you to wake up." And with a snap of his fingers, Percy did just that.

BREAK

Natasha closed the door to the bunk, making sure to lock it behind her. She strode over to the nearest bunk and slowly sat down. She slid her way backwards until she was propped up on the rear bulkhead with her legs dangling off of the bunk. She folded her hands in her lap and closed her eyes and tilted her head back releasing a long, lengthy sigh. The day had simply gone from bad to worse. The Helicarrier was barely floating along, Loki and his scepter had gotten away, Barton was unconscious, Stark and Rogers were moping, Banner was missing, Thor was missing, and Coulson and Jackson…

She banged her head on the bulkhead in an effort to dispel those thought before they caught hold too quickly. It was to no avail though. The voice in her head, the cold dispassionate voice that generally ruled her everyday actions, told her to knock it off, that emotions like hope and despair were children and most certainly not for a professional such as herself. To hell with that for the moment. Within less than an hour she had gotten Barton back only to immediately lose Jackson, and unlike Barton, Jackson wasn't coming back.

Jackson and Barton were the only family she had, the only ones that she had ever allowed to get anywhere close to her. She smiled despite herself, well in the case of Jackson he had more or less barreled his way into her life and had refused to leave until she decided to just put up with him.

It hadn't taken long. Jackson just sort of had that effect on people.

Her stomach clenched painfully, his family would need to be notified. Which meant telling his mother. Natasha had no earthly idea how she would be able to tell Sally Jackson that her son was dead.

'or maybe he's not' whispered the traitorous part of her brain again. 'he's come out of worse scrapes before, anything could have happened while he fell.' And she honestly wished that the rest of her could believe that. She pulled her knees up to her chest and laid her head on top of them, clasping her hands behind her head.

She thought back to the video footage she had watched. The way his back had contorted as the Hulk hit would forever be etched into her memory. Not even Percy could have survived a fall from nearly twenty thousand feet with a broken back, and a broken arm. Especially when they were miles from any coherent body of water.

She began squeezing her hands together behind her head, and her shoulders began to shake slightly with barely suppressed rage. What the hell had that idiot been thinking! He should have known better than to try and go up against Banner as he was! Even with Thor's help on the matter he should have known that getting himself further involved would have further hurt him. And then that stupid idea to try and tackle Banner out of the goddamn carrier!

She was squeezing her hands together so tightly that they were beginning to crack slightly.

Jackson had always had a hero complex; the idiot was too damn self-sacrificing for his own good. It had gotten him trouble one time too many over the years and know he had gotten himself killed for it, and for what! Nothing. Percy Jackson had given himself up physically and mentally to save the world more times than anyone could lay claim to and what did he get out of it, nothing but another mission and another opportunity to kill himself.

She was rambling to herself now. She couldn't help it, she was just too angry. Angry at Jackson, angry at herself for not being there, angry at the god damned gods who put it him in the situation to begin with.

She looked up, inspiration suddenly striking her. The gods! That was it! She wasn't wholly familiar with Greco-Roman mythology but surely there had to be a precedent somewhere along the way of bartering for souls. Maybe the gods would be satisfied enough to take one soul for Jackson's. But whose would she even offer? Herself? She cared about the man sure but would she truly be willing to offer her life for his? Maybe in the heat of battle, where both of their lives were on the line or she had the opportunity to take a bullet for him. She knew herself well enough to know that she would undoubtedly throw herself in front of said bullet for Jackson, Barton, Fury, hell even Hill or Rogers. But there was something much more intimate about offering her life in sacrifice for Jackson's.

She sighed again and released her hands from around her head and let them rest on her knees. She couldn't say that she would do it, and that was maybe the most painful realization she'd had all day, including learning of Jackson's disappearance. It was painful precisely because she knew that had the situation been reversed, Jackson would gladly trade his life for hers, or literally anyone else's, no matter the circumstances and he wouldn't even bat an eyelash. That was just the kind of person that Jackson was. Self-sacrificing. It was something that no matter how much she could try, Natasha could never hope to be.

It had simply been beaten out of her. Her entire development as a child had centered on self and state-preservation. There was simply no room in her being for anyone else. It sickened her, made her stomach knot up uncomfortably in ways that she was entirely unused to.

Had she been able to, she likely would have been crying by now. She certainly felt like she needed to. But she had forgotten how to long ago. Christ, she felt like a child. She never allowed her emotions to get the best of her and now here she was, curled up questioning everything about herself, her life, everything. She didn't know what to do.

Unbidden, she could almost here Jackson's snarky voice in her ear. "Who the hell are you, and what have you done with Nat? The woman I know would have never gotten this broken up over little old me. She wouldn't be sitting here moping in a room, she'd out there, trying to rally the goddamn troops and getting ready to kick some Norse ass! If you want to keep on acting like schoolgirl though, have at it, I'm just saying the Natasha I know wouldn't be sitting here doing nothing when the fate of humanity was on the line. I'd be pretty damn disappointed in that Natasha, because both you and I know that she is better than that. That's she is stronger than that. Don't we?"

The voice didn't wait for a response

"Of course we know. Cause we know Nat, and we know that she's the second most kickass person on the planet, besides me of course."

Natasha didn't know when she started standing or when she had begun moving to the door but she was suddenly vividly aware that her body had been moving, almost of its own accord.

"So, now that you're done with your little pity party, why don't you go find Clint, smack him upside the head. Grab the boys, and go save the goddamn world! Then you can mope around do whatever the hell you want."

The disembodied voice of Jackson was right; she would have time to grieve later, when the moment was right and when the stakes weren't so high. But right now, if she really wanted to honor the man she called a friend, she needed to get her people to rally, and they needed to begin coordinating.

She really should have been more concerned about the random voices she was hearing in her head, but at the given moment, she honestly could not bring herself to care enough. She allowed a smirk to dance on her lips as she thumbed the handle to the doorway and walked into the hall.

She had a job to do.

BREAK

The first thing that Percy realized when he opened his eyes was that his back did not hurt. Which was weird in and of itself because by all rights it should have been broken beyond repair. Then he realized that he wasn't dead. Again that was weird but as the memories of his conversation with Apollo came flooding back, the situation resolved itself. Finally, Percy realized that he was in water. It would have been strange for literally anyone else to not notice that they were fully submerged in water, but not for a child of a sea god. He gave his right arm an experimental wave under the water, enjoying the lack of restricted mobility that normally accompanied being submerged, and found that it too had been completely healed. He couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his lips.

It paid to be broken.

His attention was drawn to movement near the surface. He recognized shapes near the lip and saw that they appeared to be humanoid. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, despite the track record, he launched himself skyward towards the surface. He exploded out of the water with a little more force than he had been anticipating and landed unsteadily on soft grass. He stumbled a bit before soft hands grabbed hold of his arm and helped steady him. Looking up in slight surprise he locked eyes with a familiar face.

"Ororo?" He asked confused. The woman, Ororo, released his arm and gave him a soft smile.

"Hello again Perseus." Her voice was soft yet strong. The voice of a leader. And Ororo Munroe was just that. One of Charles Xavier's closest allies and companions she was also a friend of Percy's, going back to his earliest years at SHIELD. "It's good to see you again." She said.

Percy was floored. He looked around and instantly recognized where he was. He had somehow managed to land in the small lake on the property of Charles Xavier's school. How in the hell had he landed here? What kind of freak luck would let him land-He stopped himself and looked up at the sky.

"Goddamned Apollo ex machina." He muttered. He turned when he heard soft chuckling at his other side. A smile graced his lips as the form of Charles Xavier wheeled itself into his vision. He unfolded his hands and extended one for Percy to shake.

"Indeed Agent Jackson. We were told that you would be arriving earlier this morning. Apparently young miss Slater had a meeting with her father last night and told her all about where you would be."

"And more importantly the help you would need." Said Ororo slyly, a wry grin on her lips.

Percy wasn't all that surprised in retrospect. Patricia Slater was a daughter of Apollo that Percy had brought to Xavier's school when it was realized that she had developed a slight mutation that changed the color of her hair when she got too emotional. While it was a rather tame mutation in comparison to some of the other cases at the school, she was also one of nearly a dozen identical cases that had put Percy on an exceptionally good relationship with most of the students and staff at the school.

"I'll have to thank Patty the next time I see her." Percy said. Then he allowed a serious expression to form itself on his face. "Charles, we need to talk, please tell me Logan is here?" he asked. Charles folded his hands in his lap and looked at Percy.

"Let's adjourn to my office, I just called for a staff meeting. I have a feeling that everyone will want to hear what you have to say" Percy merely nodded,

"Lets hurry and get a move on then" he said with a glance to the sky where the sun was high. It was already nearly noon.

They were running out of time.

 _AN: So hope ya'll enjoyed the little double feature here. This brings us back to where Sentinel previously left off, without all of the bullshit filler that didn't amount to anything substantial. Hope you guys enjoyed and as always, thanks for the continued love and support. Ya'll are awesome!_


	6. Rock You Like A Hurricane

"I'm sorry, I must still be concussed because it sounded a lot like you just said 'no', and I know that you wouldn't say that because the gods damned world is about to invaded by an army of of aliens!" The large office in the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters was quiet and uncomfortable. Percy's exclamation hung in the air as several of the assembled individuals averted their eyes from his piercing gaze.

Not long after he arrived Charles had his senior staff organized in his luxurious office. Percy didn't waste time with greetings, simply diving headfirst into an explanation of what was going on and what needed to be done. After finishing his explanation, he had turned to address Charles, before begging the assistance of him and his private force of X-men. The X-men were a group of mutants who worked in the shadows to secure the safety of their kind, as well as begin building tenuous relationships with the rest of the world. Percy had worked with them before, several times in fact, which was why he had felt so comfortable and confident in asking for their assistance. It was also why it was such a shock when Charles had simply told him that no, the X-Men would not be taking part in this fight for continued survival.

Charles folded his hands under his chin as he spoke, "You did not mishear me Perseus. The X-Men will not be party to this war."

Percy's jaw tightened to the point that his teeth actually hurt. "And why the hell is that?" he ground out.

Charles sighed and rubbed tiredly at his forehead, "This is not our fight Perseus, I cannot-"

"The Hades do you mean that it's not your fight? This isn't some arms trafficking ring, or some pot peddlers here! I'm talking about a freaking army coming from space, and trying to wipe out the face of humanity. If ever there was a time for you guys to get involved, it would be right here, right now!" Percy was getting desperate, and the sinking feeling of despair in the bottom of his stomach was just getting worse.

"I cannot risk the early exposure of my people Perseus!" Charles finally snapped, his own frustration bubbling over the surface now, "I have to consider the safety of my students and my kind first and foremost. Early exposure to the world like this would not only be shocking, but suspicious. You and I both know what could happen if rumors begin spreading that mutants had something to do with this invasion and I cannot allow that to happen."

Before Percy could try and counter, Scott Summers, better known as Cyclops, interjected, "I agree with the professor. This isn't our fight; we would be better off staying put and looking after ourselves." Percy glared at the boy scout. He and Summer had never gotten along, just something about the two always seemed to clash with one another. Instead Percy turned and addressed the others in the room. Ororo and Hank, Beast, averted their eyes but the red-headed woman in the corner met his gaze.

"Jean…" Percy said, his voice pleading now, "C'mon, you can't just sit this out. Please…" Aside from Ororo and Logan, Jean was arguably the person on the team that Percy was the closest to and knew the best.

She was silent for a minute, and when she did speak her voice was low and said. "Percy, I've seen your thoughts. This new team you're on. If they are not enough to stop what is coming, then what hope do we have?" Had it been anyone else, the intrusion into his mind would have been cause for a fight. But Jean was different, she was one of the most kind-hearted and thoughtful people that Percy knew. It was why he had given her a free pass to his thoughts a long time ago. He trusted her, trusted that whatever she saw in his head would be private and kept strictly between the two of them. It was also why he trusted, prayed that the woman he knew would do the right thing.

Percy crossed the room and placed his hands on both of her shoulders, his considerably larger frame standing over her, "All the more reason for us to work together. This is bigger than mutants and humans or any of that. Can't you see that? You said it yourself, you've seen into my head, you know what's coming. Please Jean…" His voice trailed off into a whisper. But any hopes that Percy might have had were quickly dashed. Jean ducked her head away from him and refused to meet his eyes any longer. Percy's arms fell from her shoulders, he turned his head to acknowledge the man smoking by the window.

In a very quiet voice Percy asked, "I'm guessing you're of a similar mindset then Logan." The gruff man whom Percy also knew as the Wolverine nodded his head. "What Chuck says, goes kid. Sorry, but I have to agree. Any of the bastards make it past the city limits, we can try and deal with 'em discreet like. But we won't be getting involved int he heavy fighting. Like Chuck said, not our time and not our fight."

Percy sighed and collapsed into a nearby chair, resting his face in his hands. Behind him Ororo moved to soothingly run a hand up and down his back. The gesture both comforted and annoyed Percy though. He understood their position. Mutants, while having existed for eons, were only recently beginning to attract major attention. Charles and his kind needed to move carefully and take great percussions in what they did and did not do. Any mister could prove tremendously costly to the greater welfare of mutants, not just in the United States but across the world as well. But just because Percy understood their position, did not mean that he had to like it.

"So that's it then, you can't do anything to help me out?"

A rather sneaky smirk rose on the great professors' lips, his eyes twinkling slightly in mirth, "Well now Perseus, I never said that, now did I?"

BREAK

It had happened suddenly and without warning. In the blink of an eye an enormous wormhole opened up in the sky above Stark Tower, and out from the maw came waves upon waves of all manner of space faring craft. Chitauri from the looks of the crew carriers. This was what she had been waiting for. For years, ever since she had gotten her powers she had stayed home, silently watching and protecting over her planet just in case something arose. It was why she had been chosen in the first place, why she was what she was, she was destined to protect.

She had just begun to change when, for the first-time decades, her messenger 'pinged' with the sound of a new message.

From N: DO NOT ENGAGE. TEAM ON INTERCEPT. MAINTAIN COVER.

Carol Danvers felt her legs go out from under her, she couldn't understand this. This was what she had been waiting all this time for. It was why she was here. What the hell was Nick playing at, they didn't need a team going after these things, they needed her. She was about to simply ignore the message when a voice in the back of her mind stopped her. This was Nick, if he truly thought that he needed her, then he would have said so. That was when it dawned on her, long ago, he had told her that he had plan, a plan that would allow her the attitude to leave the planet and perform her role as guardian over other worlds. His plan was to put together a team of individuals that would act as protectors in her stead.

Looking back out towards the growing number of Chitauri, she let out a ragged breath. She hoped Fury was right. She placed the device back down on her coffee table, next to the framed picture of her and Percy. They had taken it together a few months ago, it was a silly little picture of the two of them on the couch, Percy smiling broadly up at the camera he was holding in one hand, the other wrapped around the sleeping Carol on his stomach. Her stomach clenched painfully as she picked it up, she had a feeling where Percy was, and what he was going to tell her the other night. Holding the picture tight to her chest she sat down on the couch, and watched the spectacle unfold in front of her.

BREAK

Grunting, Clint swept the legs of one Chitauri with his bow before ramming an arrow into the bastard's chest. Behind him Natasha had claimed on top of the shoulders of another of the aliens. She wrapped her legs around its neck and forced the points of her stingers into where its temples should be. Electric shocks hissed and popped as the discharge from the weapon fried the creature from the inside out.

Clint ran to cover her flank, but was intercepted when another of the creatures tackled him to the ground. As Clint brawled and fought off the creature on top of him, Natasha swiped the weapon of another. Sweeping the legs in one fluid motion she shot an alien to her left, before spinning out of the way of an incoming attack and firing another round of plasma into the chest of another. As she fended off another group of incoming enemies Clint managed to wrestle free of his own struggle. Stabbing the point of an arrow into the neck of the alien on top of him he clambered to his feet. Charging straight towards a pair of Chitauri attempting to flank Natasha, he slid around them, before popping to his feet and firing off a quick series of shots.

As incoming shots came raining in from above, he began firing into the skyline, trying to draw out more of the flying bastards. Engrossed in his task, he didn't notice the two Chitauri charging him. Before they could reach him however, the flying for of Captain America flew into focus, battering the two away easily. Cap reoriented himself and drove another three enemies with quick strikes of his shield. As another group of enemies began to charge forward, the hiss and crackle of highly charged electricity came from overhead, before a lightning bolt fell from the heavens and killed the advancing soldiers in their tracks. With an ungraceful thud and stumble, Thor entered the fray.

"What's the story upstairs?" asked Cap, not wasting a second as he approached the god.

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable." he replied. Before Cap could respond, Tony's voice broke over their earpieces.

"Thor's right, we gotta deal with these guys."

"How do we do this?" Asked Natasha, the question seemingly directed at everyone but she was looking at Cap.

With his eyes still locked on the horizon Cap responded easily, "As a team"

Thor grabbed his attention, "I have unfinished business with Loki-"

"Yeah? Well get in line." interjected Clint as he fiddled with the heads of some of his few remaining arrows.

Wanting to stem off any possible fighting before it could begin, Cap growled, "Save it. Loki's going to keep this fight focused on us now and that's what we need. Without him these things could run wild. We got Stark up top he's going to need us to-" He was cut off but the sound of small motor rumbling to a stop behind him. Turning around, the group looked on in slight incredulity as an incredibly disheveled Bruce Banner stepped wobbly off of an ancient motorcycle. Taking a few shaky steps towards the approaching superheroes he addressed them,

"So, this all seems…horrible."

"I've seen worse." Natasha said simply, nodding slightly at the disheveled man. Banner cringed slightly, "Sorry".

Natasha shook her head quickly, "No no, we could use a little worse."

Into his ear piece Cap addressed Tony, "Stark, we got him"

"Banner?"

However, Cap was cut off before he could say anything. "I've got incoming and its moving low and fast." Said Tony, "It's moving on your position Cap." The group circled up, their backs to one another. They heard it before they saw it. It was the high-pitched, loud whine of a turbo engine. In the blink of an eye a large, slim black aircraft rocket low overhead, cutting between the still standing buildings. The group had just enough time to watch as a pair of bay doors were opened and closed in rapid succession as a man shaped something fell out of the aircraft. As the object plummeted towards the group, the aircraft banked sharply skyward and rocketed out of the airspace.

Before anyone could make out what the object was, it landed in a crunch, crushing some of the concrete below it as the figure landed. Rising from up, Percy Jackson faced his teammates. "Sorry I'm late, bus was a little late, and none of the cabs were running." Natasha was the first to recover, smirking as she took in the man, she presumed was dead. She should have known better; Percy was simply too stubborn to know how to die. That didn't mean he wouldn't be getting the ass-chewing and ass-kicking of a lifetime if they made it out of this mess in one peace though. Bastard had to pay for making her think he'd gone and died on her.

"Better late than never Cinderella, cute outfit where'd you get it" Clint said, ripping Natasha out of her tangent.

Looking down, Percy took in his attire. Charles and Beast had surprised him. In addition to transport on their Blackbird, they also had kit ready and waiting for him. According to Beast, after the whole fiasco in New Orleans, he had decided to always have spare kits for lying around. He was wearing his standard SHIELD fatigues. However over top of his jacket was a darkened, chest-piece. He wasn't certain what it was made of but knew it was sturdy and flexible. There was a pair of small protective pauldrons on his shoulders, that connected down to vambraces over his forearms. A pair of greaves covered his boots and protected his legs. However, the most eye-catching aspect of the ensemble, was the large bronze sword, strapped to Percy's back. The sunlight glinted off the blade giving it an even more menacing look than it already possessed.

Looking back up at Clint he smiled, my fairy god-mother of course. Cap Chuckled and raised his hand to his ear, "Stark, we got Jackson too."

"Oh, good the bands all here. Listen tell the boys to put their suits on because I'm about to bring the party to you."

The sound of repulsers firing filled the air as a small shape blasted around the edge of a skyscraper about a mile from their position. Just as Tony rounded onto the street, the corner of the building exploded into debris as a monstrous leviathan-esque creature flew onto the road, hot on Tony's heels.

"I don't see how that's a party" Natasha snarked, looking on in slight disbelief.

"Beginning to feel a lot like Budapest." Percy muttered under his breath before sharing a look with Clint.

Banner shared a look with Cap before he turned and began walking directly into the path of oncoming monster. "Dr. Banner." Chided Cap softly, "Now might be a really good time for you to get angry."

With a smirk, Banner kept walking forward, but turned his attention back towards the group. "That's my secret Captain, I'm always angry." With a roar, man became monster, and the true battle for New York began.

BREAK

The sound of another explosion ripped through the otherwise silent gymnasium. That one had been closer than the others had been. The more rational part of Peter's mind said that meant that whatever was out there was getting closer. He had been in the middle of history when it happened. A panicked announcement over the loudspeakers that all students had to report to the gym, something about an attack, and that's when they started hearing the explosions and gunfire.

That had been nearly an hour ago. And since then, the entirety of Midtown Middle School had sat in scared silence in the small, hot, and dark gym. Peter felt Ned grip his upper arm a little harder. His best friend was even worse at hiding his emotions than Peter was, and Peter was kind of known for wearing his emotions on his sleeves. Oh, don't get him wrong, Peter was scared, terrified even. But he also knew that if there was one place he'd want to be during any form of whatever was going on, it was New York, specifically Midtown. They were only three blocks away from Stark Tower, and if there was anyone on the planet that Peter trusted to keep him and the rest of New York, heck the whole world even, safe; it was Tony Stark.

Peter idolized the man, he smart, talented good-looking and rich beyond all measure. He was everything that Peter had ever wanted to be. Ever since the events of the Stark expo years ago, he had followed the man and his career with an obsessive fervor. He knew that Mr. Stark was a hero, a real one too! And he also knew that no matter what happened, he would save Peter and the rest of the world too.

There was another explosion, this one all too close for comfort. Followed very quickly by the sound of feet pounding on the floor. That's when the shouting started, not from anyone in the gym, they were all too scared to properly speak or ever scream, no the shouting was coming from something else. It sounded guttural, and animalistic. Peter reached up and fisted the back of Ned's shirt, in response his best friend just curled into a smaller ball into Peter's arm.

There was more shouting, then there was silence, and then there was screaming and shooting and the sounds of fighting coming from one of the hallways very, very close now. The hallway behind the locked and chain door to the gym light up as bright blue lights filled the space. Peter could make out shapes in the hallway with each blue flash. He could somewhat see the shape of something humanoid in nature. He knew instinctually that it wasn't human however, it was too hunched up, and the skin, from what he could tell, seemed to glisten like the scales of a lizard. The lights began to increase in intensity, matching the rapidity of the battle going on in the hallway.

Peter saw something else then, this one was definitely human, and it was definitely fighting back against the creatures trying to kill them. His heart soared, it was him! it had to be, Iron Man had arrived and was going to rescue them, just like Peter knew he would.

Abruptly, the flashing blue lights stopped, and silence permeated the air again, only broken the continuation of whatever battle was still being fought outside. However, the silence lasted only momentarily as suddenly the skylights of the gym exploded downwards, raining glass down on the students and staff below as sunlight poured into the once dark room. For a brief instant Peter's eleven-year-old senses were overwhelmed by the sudden outpouring of light, the sounds of fighting and the acrid stench of what he thought must have been the ozone of the weapons being fired.

The screaming started then, this time from students and staff as the weird, lizard like aliens began descending down into the gym, attached to cables with long poles stretched over the shoulders. When they were fifteen feet from the ground, the creatures let go and dropped onto the ground with a crash that rocked the floor. One of them landed directly in front of Peter and unslung the pole from its back. Hoisting it up, the creature aimed what could only be a weapon of some kind, right. at. him. Peter heard Ned scream, and he wanted to shut his eyes but Peter just couldn't. Where was Mr. Stark? he was supposed to come save him! like he had before, where was Iron Man! For what seemed like an eternity the creature looked at him, just staring at Peter with those cold, dead, lifeless eyes. Then it slowly started to pull down on the trigger of the weapon, Peter watched the buildup of energy, starting from the bulbous blue pod on the shoulder guard, and working its way through the long rod, there was a bright blue flash and then, nothing. No pain, no agony, no white light or kind looking bearded man at the end of a long tunnel.

Instead, he saw what looked like dark blue armor, looking up he astonished. He had been saved, but not by Iron Man, instead he was looking at a much younger young man. Chiseled features, a strong jaw, and short cropped black hair. In a blink the man disappeared from in front of him, leaping backwards and behind the monster that had just tried to kill Peter. The new hero land gracefully, and in one fluid motion cut the head off of the creature with a freaking sword. Moving almost too quickly to be real, the man spun away from the fallen villain before leaping towards his next victim, he launched a vicious kick into the chest of the nearest one, which caved the creature's sternum in completely and blasted it into a being beside it. The two fell in a crumpled heap but the man wasn't done, in the time it took to dispatch the first three, the remaining two swung the weapons they had been aiming at the students in his direction and fired. Two bolts of blue energy surged towards the man. The man raised a hand and just as the energy bolts were going to hit him, they were stopped a wall of water that had been created in front of the strange new hero. The man closed his hand into a fist and punch the water wall. From the other side, frozen shards of ice, sharp as knives flew out of the wall and into the chests of the remaining monsters.

The two creatures fell, purple blood spurting from their dying bodies. As the creatures collapsed to floor, dead, the man dropped to the floor panting hard. Now that Peter could focus more, he could see wisps of smoke roiling off of the man's back. Peter's eyes widened and shock and utter horror when he saw the charred and burned flesh on the man's back. That had been because of him…this man had been seriously hurt because he had saved Peter's live. Shame, sadness and anger built up inside the young boy, and before he or anyone could stop him, Peter had hauled himself away from Ned and the students and was racing as fast as could to wounded man. He skidded to a stop beside him, even with the man on his knees, Peter barely came up to his head. Raising a shaking hand to the man's shoulder, Peter shook it gently.

"A-are you ok sir?" he asked, and he felt his face redden at his own fear-laden voice. The man looked up at him, pain and anguish coloring his features. His face softened considerably though when his eyes landed on Peter. A roguish grin found its way on the man's lips as he placed a hand on his right knee and slowly and wobbly raise himself up to look at Peter.

"I'm ok kid, thank you." the man said, and put and gently took Peter's arm off of his shoulder, and placed one of his own on Peter's. "That was a close one huh?" he said, s laugh in his voice. That broke the remaining walls on Peter's will and he launched himself onto the man, latching his arms around his neck in a tight hug. For a minute the man seemed too stunned to move, but he slowly returned the gesture, patting the boys back reassuringly. "I'm ok kid, I'm ok and so are you alright, we're all ok and we're all going to be ok." The man assured Peter, but Peter barely heard, he was openly crying now, and he couldn't bring himself to care. He was scared, and sorry and embarrassed that he had been so weak and helpless that this hero had needed to get himself hurt to save his life.

Peter barely registered when the man stood up fully, pulling Peter up off of the ground as the man carried Peter back to the teachers and students. Peter didn't release his hold on the man until they were back at the students; still crying he looked up at the man. He just couldn't understand, why would this man willingly hurt himself for Peter's sake, he was a nobody, a loser just like Flash and Liz and all the others told him. Why was he worth getting hurt over.

"W-why, d-d-did you s-ave me?" Peter half cried, half asked, all of the emotions of the last few minutes were just too much for him to handle at the moment. "Why would you get hurt for our sakes, why not just let someone else do it!" he was shouting now, but Peter couldn't bring himself to care, it was all just too much. The man just smiled knowingly and knelt back down placing his arms on either side of Peter's face, slowly wiping away the tears with his thumbs.

"What's your name?" He asked,

"P-Peter"

The man smiled even more broadly, and Peter felt his fear and insecurity fade away in the safety and reassurances that came with the man. "Hi Peter, my name is Percy, it's very nice to meet you. And to answer your question Peter, it's a very simple answer. I was gifted with great and extraordinary power. And when someone is given the kind of power I have, and can do the kinds of things that I can do, it means that person has the even greater responsibility to use those powers for good. To make sure to use those powers to help and save people. With great power, comes great responsibility Pete. Remember that."

"W-with great power, c-comes great r-responsibility." Peter sniffled,

Percy smiled even more broadly, "That's right Pete now I-" he paused and put a finger up to his ear, "This is Jackson, the school is clear. Roger that Cap, I'm on my way now." Turning his attention back to Peter he said, "Now I've got to get going Pete, but before I do, I need you to promise me something."

Peter nodded his vigorously, Percy smiled again, "I need you to watch out for you teachers and classmates for me ok? You're my partner here got it?" and Percy raised a fist which Peter bumped,

"I will mister Jackson sir, you can count on it!"

Percy just smiled at him one more time before turning jumping straight up and out of the now open skylight. Not even ten seconds later, a group of soldiers from the National Guard poured in through the doors of the school, establishing a perimeter. Peter hardly even noticed, watching the man who had changed his life forever, leave to go finish the fight.

BREAK

"Cap down!" Cap replied instantly, dropping to a knee a raising his shield over his head. Percy vaulted over the shield kicking the head of one Chitauri and sending it toppling over a guard rail. He caught the arm of another as it swung its fist at his head. He formed a knife of ice and slid it into the creature's side. He just managed to get his head out of the way of the blade of one of their weapons. Before he had a chance to react, Cap's shield blurred over his shoulder and crashed into the faceplate of the Chitauri, nearly cutting it in half. Cap then blurred into motion, launching his shield. It bounced off of two Chitauri, Percy caught it and twisted and caved the head in of another before he tossed in the air behind him. Cap caught the shield, spun, and kicked another into the door of an overturned taxi.

Percy paused, breathing heavy and tried to stop the stitch from forming in the side of his stomach. Cap limped up next to him, also trying in vain to catch his breath. Tapping Percy on the back with his fist, he gasped out,

"What, don't tell me you're already getting tired one me."

Percy smirked back at him, "Hah" he wheezed out, "You wish old timer. I just wanted to stop for your sake, give your old bones a chance to rest." Steve was about to respond when Natasha's voice rang in their ears.

"I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down." Percy felt unusually relieved to her voice. She had been radio silent for far too long for his liking. He knew she could take care of herself, but that would never stop Percy from worrying about one of if not the closest friend he had. "Do it!" Cap said forcefully. but Stark interjected quickly.

"No wait."

"Stark these things are still coming.

"I got a nuke coming in and it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it."

Percy and Cap shared a look, "I'm gonna back him up." Percy said quickly,

Steve looked at him skeptically, "I didn't know you could fly?"

Percy smirked, "I can't." Then he raised two fingers into his mouth and whistled. It loud, and sharp and cut through the air like a bullet. Then, there was a rush of air and a big black shape raced by the pair overhead. Cap instinctively ducked but Percy just laughed as a large, black stallion with dark black wings protruding from its back gracefully landed at Percy's side. The Pegasus nudged Percy with its head,

"What the hell took you so long Boss, I thought you'd never call." Percy just patted his old friend on the snout.

"I've been busy Blackjack, I'll make it up to ya, I promise. But first." He leapt up and landed smoothly on the Pegasus' back, "We have a nuke to catch." looking down at Cap he gave him a two fingered salute, "Captain Rogers, it's been a pleasure."

Cap reached out an arm, "Wait-" but it was too late, Percy and Blackjack were already airborne.

Percy had reached the same conclusion as Cap; Stark was going to launch the nuke straight into the wormhole. A great idea, minus the fact that it would inevitably be a one-way trip. A fact that was emphasized by Cap not a moment later. Leaning down he gently stroked blackjack's mane, "This won't end well for you, you can back out of this you know."

Blackjack just huffed in annoyance, "Like I'd let you do something this stupid on your own." Percy just smiled and focused on concentrating. He didn't need to tell blackjack what he was planning, the Pegasus was linked to him, he already knew exactly what Percy was planning on doing. Percy began drawing any ambient water from him that he could. He pulled, and he pulled and he pulled. He layered over himself and Blackjack, a protective layer so small and insignificant that it couldn't be seen by the naked eye. He was just finishing up when they pulled in behind Tony. As they banked up and along the surface of Stark Tower, Percy reached into his utility belt and pulled free the ripcord. He hooked one end of it to Blackjack's saddle and gripped the other end tightly in his hand.

They were clearing the top of the tower, looking down, he made eye contact with Natasha, whose eyes widened in horrified understanding, "Percy don't you da-" Her connection broke off, They had reach the top of the tower and were directly under the wormhole, Stark had just disappeared into. Forcing the water around him to act as a personal life preserver, Percy launched himself off of Blackjack's back, and into the wormhole.

BREAK

Since his transformation into what he was now, Steve Rogers could count on one hand the number of times that he had ever truly felt helpless. Even when he had been plunging into the freezing depths of the arctic, towards what he thought was his own end, he had felt like he was in complete control of his own fate. After all, it had been his own decision to go down with the ship, to go down on his terms. However, watching Stark and then Percy, two individuals he felt he could start to truly call friends in a world he no longer truly recognized, disappear into the void of space, he felt helpless.

These feelings were only made worse by Widow and Hawkeye's unison cries for Percy to stop. He could hear Natasha muttering something under her breath in Russian, either unaware or uncaring that they could all hear her. It sounded a lot like a prayer. Which is what he began doing. His parents had both been devout Catholics, and he was proud of his religion, but after the last twenty-four hours his entire system of belief had been shaken. He just hadn't the time to really process it.

But, as he stood there, helpless and afraid, he did something he hadn't done in a long time. He prayed. Not to his god, but to Percy's, to his father. It seemed foolish, and silly, but also immensely right.

"Poseidon, if you're there if anyone is there that can hear me and cares enough to listen. Bring them back. Please."

It was quiet for a long moment.

Quiet.

Still.

And then the wormhole began closing and his heart starting pounding again. His blood rushed to his ears as panic set. The hole was closing and there was still no sign of them. And then, with a tremendous BANG, the wormhole shut off, He shielded his eyes and looked away for a minute, but when he turned back, he felt his heart and his hope begin to soar again. Plummeting back down to earth were a pair of shapes, both humanoid.

"Son of a gun." He whispered softly, more to himself than anyone else. Beside him, Thor chuckled as well,

"It will take more than that to vanquish them." But the he paused and began spinning his hammer, "They're not slowing down!" Before the God of Thunder could fly off in rescue of their falling friends, a black blur swooped in under what Steve could now see was Percy. Carefully catching him on his back, the Pegasus swooped in his direction, as a green missile caught and latched onto to Stark. The Hulk landed roughly, first into the side of a building and then onto a car before throwing the iron husk cradled in his arms onto the ground. The Pegasus, something Steve would try to reconcile later, landed next to him, and he carefully lifted the young man off of the mounts back, laying him down next to the still Stark. Thor had ripped the faceplate of the armor off revealing the bruised and bloodied face of Tony Stark, unmoving and unbreathing. Steve bent down and listened intently to first Percy and then Stark. Neither were breathing. The relief that had been released upon seeing their successful escape wilted away as numbness replaced it. Sitting back on his knees, Steve closed his eyes in brief, sorrow for the loss of his friends.

Until the Hulk roared in defiance. Both men jolted awake, gasping for breath. Percy sat bolt upright, breathing hard, while Stark just lay panting on the ground, unable to move in his deactivated armor. Steve placed a hand on Percy's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. They met eyes and Percy's eyes relaxed,

"Did we win?"

"Please tell me nobody kissed me."

Steve smiled and looked up towards the heavens, sending a silent prayer of thanks before whispering out, "We won."

The moment of brevity was broken however, when Stark opened his mouth, "All right. Yay. Hurray, good job guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow, let's just take a day. Have you ever tried Shawarma there's a Shawarma joint about two blocks from here I don't know what it is but I want to try it."

"We're not finished yet." said Thor darkly, gazing up at where his brother resided in Stark tower.

Tony looked at him, then at the others, "and then Shawarma after."

BREAK

Percy nursed his half cold Shawarma, he still couldn't figure out what the hell it was, and rubbed absently at where Natasha had smacked him. After they had reconnected at the Tower she had punched him in the jaw, telling him that if he tried to kill himself again she'd drag his ass back out of the afterlife and kill him herself. It was her way of letting him know that she cared.

After they had arrested Loki and handed off the tesseract to a STRIKE team, some covert SHIELD unit, Percy had immediately called his mother to make sure that she was safe and knew he was ok. It turns out that the minute they discovered what was happening, Coulson had called a team over to their apartment and had them driven out of the city to safety. A pit formed in his stomach at the thought. Nat and Clint had pulled him aside and the tower and broken the news to him. He hadn't handled it well, a testament that Loki's broken jaw, and missing teeth could attest to. He had called in and asked Fury if he could handle the funeral arrangements himself. Coulson had been Percy's handler; Percy would be damned if he didn't honor the man for what he had given Percy. Everything in his life now, he owed to the now deceased agent. And he could never thank him enough. If not for Coulson and Fury, Percy would probably still be in a jail somewhere. Wouldn't know his sister, would never see his mom or Paul again, would have never met Nat, or Clint or Carol….

He was just raising a forkful of the cold whatever up to his lips when he stopped dead. Carol. Looking up sharply, he asked, "What day is it?"

"Thursday" said Banner tiredly.

Standing up abruptly, he said, "I have something to take care of, Nat send me the details for the drop-off tomorrow." and before anyone could say anything or stop him, Percy ran at a full sprint out of the half-destroyed restaurant.

BREAK

Carol had just finished locking away the rest of her belongings. Shortly after the wormhole had closed, she knew what she had to do. Earth had protectors now. Earth was safe; it didn't need her here. With a group like the Avengers, she could feel some comforted that her home would not come under attack by something that could not be handled. The same could not be said for the thousands or millions of other worlds out there. The ones with no Avengers to look after and protect it. Her time on her planet was done. She reached the coffee table, taking the communicator and placing it in the small bag of treasures that she would take with her. She didn't have much, mostly small mementos and keepsakes to keep her grounded and remind her of what and for whom she would be doing all of this for.

She was just preparing to leave when there was a knock on her door. She paused, unsure whether or not she should answer, or simply leave. But then there was another more forceful knock. followed by a series of short knocks, before another final knock. Shave and a haircut. Her body moved sluggishly, almost without conscious thought of what was happening, to the door. As she was in front of it, she raised her own fist and knocked twice. Two bits. The door opened, and there stood Percy. Battered didn't even begin to describe him, he was covered in soot, and ash, his right eye was purple and was even beginning to yellow a bit around the bridge of his nose. His lip was cut and the armor he was wearing was beaten and ruined and bloodied.

And he still took her breath away. He was carrying a box of Franzia in one hand, a copy of the movie Birdemic in the other. He gulped when her eyes met his again.

"Hey Carol.." He said softly, and god help her if she didn't shiver a little. "I uhm I know that I have a lot to explain and believe me I will.." he was rambling but she wasn't really listening. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that this man that she had grown to care so much for was about to be out of her life. She shouldn't have answered the damn door, this made things so much harder, so much worse. how was she supposed to leave now, knowing that she would be leaving Percy behind. She should just close the door in his face, make him believe that she hated him, hated him for lying to her. Hated him for telling her he was something he wasn't. That would work wouldn't it, that would be believable. He would believe that after she had found out what he was, that she had cut him out of her life entirely.

She could do that. It would be for his own sake, really it would. It would save him the heartache. The belief that she actually cared about him. He would get over it. She could do it. She just had to close the door, and leave. She could do it.

"…And I know that Thursday isn't movie night but because we were interrupted last time I just thought, you know while I tell you everything, which I will and you have to know that I will, that we could-"

She couldn't.

She fisted him by the front of his torn uniform and smashed her lips against hers. He dropped the wine and the movie to the floor as his arms wrapped around her. Wrapping her arms around his neck she depended the kiss. Shoving her tongue into his mouth and tasting him, Feeling him. Experiencing all that was Percy. This was wrong, and selfish, and all kinds of horrible, terrible things. But as Percy stepped deeper into her apartment, closing the door behind him with his foot, and as her legs came up to wrap around his waist.

She couldn't bring herself to care.

BREAK

The sun wasn't up when she pulled herself from the bed. She shivered and wobbled a little as the cold air of her apartment hit her naked flesh. The effects of their lovemaking had made Carol's legs a little unsteady, but she steadied herself, and mentally forced herself to do what needed to be done.

Their first coupling together had been raw, hard, fast, and filled with desire. But after the haze of their lusts had left, Percy had pulled her against him and, true to his word, had told her everything. Told her that he was a demigod, about his life before SHIELD and how he came into their service. He told her what he did and what he had done. He had told her everything. It had only served to make this more difficult.

In the darkness of the bedroom, she willed her uniform into existence, the blue, red and gold armor forming around her protectively. She turned and faced him. He looked so peaceful, and content. It broke her heart. She reached down and gently stroked his cheek with one hand as tears threatened the corners of her eyes. But she steeled herself. She couldn't stay. And after hearing everything he had told her; she knew that he would understand. Pulling out the drawer on the night stand next to her bed, she fished out the letter she written him, she had intended to leave it attached to his door. But this would be just as well. It was a letter explaining who and what she was, how she had gotten her powers, and why she was leaving.

Percy was a man of duty and commitment. He would understand why she had to leave. He had to. She had to tell herself that because it was the only way she would be able to leave this man. Reaching down one last time, she placed a soft, loving kiss against his lips, and stroked his hair to the side. Then, without glancing back. She opened the bedroom window, and flew out.

Carol Danvers. Captain Marvel. Was gone.

 _ **Warning: Long AN ahead.**_

 _ **AN: Wow, ok, so there is a lot to process here. First of all, sorry for the super delayed absence. This chapter was an utter bastard to try and write. I just didn't know what I wanted to do or how I wanted to do it. I didn't want to end up with just 3,000 words of Percy fighting drones over and over again. While it's fun to watch on the screen it isn't fun to read. I wrote and rewrote this damn chapter 6 times before I was happy with it. And I am very happy with how it turned out. To all my Carol fans out there. Yikes, I'm sorry. Listen the more I wrote these two the more I loved them. But I also want to explain my reasoning here. I'm trying to stay true to the characters as defined by the movies and comics they come from. For those who have seen Endgame, I'm sure you can understand why I chose to go the way I went. But never fear people! I have big plans, that extend a long way. Carol will be back. I promise. So again, I'm sorry for the delay, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did. I really enjoyed the scene at the Gym. Probably my favorite thing I've ever written that was fiction related. Anyways, thanks for reading, and all the love and support. You guys are awesome! Have an awesome day, night or week. See you soon!**_

 _ **Love,**_

 _ **LilDB**_


	7. You Give Love a Bad Name

**Camp Jupiter**

 **One hour after the attack on New York**

"Wait, roll back the footage like five seconds. There! Pause it!"

"Holy Hades…it really is him."

"Not gonna lie, I would."

"Seriously dude?"

"What? I'm just saying."

Jason did his best to ignore the banter and focused on the image. Several hours ago the gates to Camp Jupiter were suddenly shut and orders came top down that all half-bloods were to remain in the city until told otherwise. A meeting of the Senate was immediately convened to discuss what was happening but nobody knew. That was until Leo had managed to hack into the Hephaestus Television Network. Every channel was playing the same report. Aliens or something resembling aliens were attacking the city of New York. The entire city spent the next several hours watching as a group the network was calling 'The Avengers' combat the bad guys.

It had been towards the end of the battle that Hazel had called it. The camera had whip-panned over to a tall, muscular black-haired man fighting side by side with Captain America himself. Even if it had been years since he had seen the man, Jason would be able to pick Percy Jackson out of lineup ten times out ten. This was what gathered the former heroes of Olympus to Reyna's house just outside of the city. The group was skimming through the footage trying to confirm what they already knew. That Percy Jackson was active in New York.

Jason felt the grip on his hand tighten. Looking over, he saw that Piper's finger were white. The band on her ring finger was digging into his skin so strongly that Jason was certain there would a mark in the morning. Following her gaze, he saw that Annabeth was sitting stock still in her seat. Her jaw was clenched and her fingers were clawing into her palms. Jason shared a look with his wife, and he just nodded at her silent question. Before Piper could stand up and walk over to try and talk to the woman though, Annabeth stood up and marched out of the room. The slam of the door literally shook the foundations of the house.

"She better not have broken my damn door." muttered Reyna as she stood up and left to inspect the damage.

Jason sighed and ran a hand through his cropped blonde hair. He wasn't surprised. Annabeth had taken Percy's retirement as a personal betrayal. She had felt that Percy was not only turning his back on their life, but on her as well. While Jason could sympathize with Annabeth's feelings, he would never agree with her. Percy, more than anyone, deserved to try and live a life away from the gods. Especially after they had effectively abandoned him and thrown him to the mortal wolves. Relaxing back into his seat as the others around him continued to comment and speculate on what Percy had been doing the last several years and with whom. Feeling Piper slide into his shoulder he felt his hand drift to her swelling belly, it may have been in his mind but he thought he could feel the child within. Letting a smile play onto his lips he looked back at the screen. Whatever else Percy was doing, and wherever he was now, Jason only hoped that his friend was happy.

BREAK

When he opened his eyes, Percy found himself not in Carol's bed, but back at the same nightclub Apollo had summoned him to prior to the fight in New York.

"What's goin' on hero-man!" shouted Apollo, a brilliant smile on his lips.

"Oh, c'mon man, seriously?" Percy asked incredulously. Was it seriously too much to ask to just have been allowed a single night to himself?

"Don't be like that." Apollo waved off Percy's annoyance like a fly. "I'm proud of you! Not only did you kick some serious ass today, but you even got yourself laid. Up top!" Apollo shouted, raising a hand in the air. Percy knew better, if he just let it sit there his cousin would be on his ass about it. So he clapped his own calloused palm against Apollo's and sighed.

"Ok seriously, what is so important that you had draw me out of my sleep to talk to me." Percy knew that Apollo wouldn't be risking contact like this if it wasn't something important. Immediately, his cousin's entire countenance shifted.

"While you and your new little group may have won the day, I'm afraid this fight is far from over. As you know, Loki was little more than a pawn in a bigger game. A small fish, in a very large pond if you will." Percy nodded; he remembered the purple monstrosity he had seen before he awoke at Xavier's school. "What you may not be aware is that the tesseract is not exactly what the mortals believe it to be."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, confused.

"I mean that the pretty blue little box that caused all of this chaos, is little more than a glorified safe vault." said Apollo, reaching into a pocket in his coat and pulling out a small simple necklace. The chain was made of what looked like silver, chained together in small ringlets. At the center of the chain, was a small rectangular box.

"The tesseract was hiding a jewelry box?" Percy blurted out before he could stop himself.

Apollo just laughed, though not unkindly, "Nah man, that was just my idea. Thought you could use a little bling. No, the what the box was holding wasn't this dope ass neck piece. Rather it's what's inside the little box here, that is so important." he said, Apollo then gripped the small box and pressed down on a small button on the side. The front of the box fell open and revealed a brilliant blue stone sitting inside. "This right here, is the space stone. One of the six infinity stones."

"Okay…" Percy said uncertainty. Unsure of what Apollo was getting. Again, his cousin turned serious.

"We were watching the battle Perseus." Apollo said, "And when we saw that the box was used to open that portal of Stark Tower, Zeus figured out what was inside. I've never seen him so worried before, I don't think he ever expected to see one of the stones on earth again but here it is." Apollo paused, thumbing the small stone again, "Anyways, the Asgardian was planning on taking this back with him to Asgard tomorrow. We, that is to say the council, decided we could not let that happen."

"You stole it?!" Percy asked, realization dawning on him suddenly,

"Yup!" said Apollo cheerily. "Was pretty easy too, Hermes just strode on in past that security team watching over it and swapped the tesseract out for a fake. Don't worry!" he said easily, seeing the outburst on Percy's face, "Hecate herself made the construct. Even the Asgardians won't be able to tell it's a fake. She managed to completely mimic the energy output of the original. For all intents and purposes, no one will be able to tell the difference." Apollo held the necklace out to Percy again.

"That's where this little beauty comes in. Hecate and Hephaestus put this little beauty together. Not only does it serve as a housing unit for the stone, but it completely hides the power that the stone puts off. To everyone else, it's just a sweet necklace, no one will ever be any the wiser."

Percy nodded slowly, as he put the pieces together in his head. He knew that there was a reason Apollo was putting on this little show and tell for him. Normally Percy would have tried to play around with Apollo a little, rile him up and draw out the reveal. But right now, all Percy wanted was to get back to laying in bed with Carol.

"I'm guessing you guys want me to hide it or something?" he asked.

Apollo shook his head, "No. We want you to guard it." Apollo closed the box over stone again and pressed the necklace into Percy's empty hand and closed Percy's fist around it.

"Why?" Percy asked,

"Because we believe that the being I showed you before, Thanos, is hunting for the infinity stones."

"You keep saying that like I'm supposed to know what it means. What hell is an infinity stone and why does some giant purple tampon want to collect them?"

Before Apollo could respond, a deep voice cut in, "I believe I can explain it from here, nephew." Percy knew that voice, turning on the bar stool he was sitting on, Percy looked and was shocked to see his father, in all his glory, standing not even a foot from Percy.

"Hello Perseus." His father, Poseidon, king of the seas said, a soft and proud smile tugging at his lips.

"Hey dad," Percy breathed out, more than a little shocked. It was an ancient law that divine parents couldn't have direct contact with their children like this.

"Thank you for this nephew." Poseidon said, speaking to Apollo. In response Apollo gave a smile and two fingered salute off his forehead, before he turned and disappeared into the crowd of people. "Let us take our discussion somewhere a bit more private." Poseidon said, now speaking to Percy. With that, he raised a hand and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, the scene around Percy shifted. He was no longer sitting on a bar stool in some New York nightclub, but rather he was standing on an achingly familiar beach. Looking over to his left, Percy spotted the old beach house that had been a bastion of safety and security for much of his childhood. Turning back to look at his father, Percy saw that he was smiling. "I always have been very fond of Montauk."

His father fell silent as he stared out at the waves lapping up on the beach. Percy fell in next to him and joined his father in staring out at the ocean. Percy decided that his questions would be answered soon enough, but for the moment he would simply enjoy this rare moment with his father. They stood like that, in companionable silence for several minutes. Finally, his father sighed and turned away from the water.

"Truly my son, I cannot express the pain it brings me to have to ask of you what we do. It is too much to ask of one who has already been asked to give everything."

"Dad", Percy said softly, "What's going on. Last time I spoke with Apollo he didn't know what was going on, only that something was coming. What is happening?"

Poseidon sighed again and rubbed a hand through his black air. "Allow me to start at the beginning. I trust Apollo told you that we were watching the battle?" his father asked, and at seeing Percy's nod he continued. "Well when we witnessed the portal open, my brothers and I recognized the tesseract for what it really was. A housing mechanism for the space stone, one of the six mighty infinity stones."

"There's that title again." Percy interjected, "What the hell are infinity stones and what is so damn important about them?"

His father nodded, "They are ancient and powerful weapons, created by beings older than even the gods. They control various powerful aspects of nature itself. Separated, they are powerful enough to turn even the meekest of mortals into a force to be reckoned with. However, should someone manage to gain control over all six, then the power they would be able to wield." He shuddered, and Percy truly began to understand the scope of what was happening. Anything that managed to scare even his father, one of the most powerful beings on the planet, was enough to rattle Percy.

"And this guy, Thanos, he's trying to get his hands on all of these stones?" Percy asked,

His father nodded, "That is what we believe yes, it is why we believe he attacked Earth. To get his hands on the tesseract, and by extension the space stone."

"Ok…" Percy said slowly, "But he didn't succeed, we stopped him. I guess it would be foolish to think that he wouldn't try again." Percy mused.

Poseidon nodded in approval, "However, we do not believe the monster will attempt to retrieve the stone again for some time. He suffered a major defeat today, and lost much of his army. It will take some time for him to recoup his losses and try again."

Percy shook his head understanding, "But that doesn't explain why you want me to guard it. Wouldn't the stone be just as safe, if not more so on Asgard?"

His father shook his head, "We will not trust Asgardians to protect the stone again. It has been made abundantly clear that if Loki was able to usurp the power of the stone, then he or someone else can do it again. Our council has voted, it has been decided that the stone would be safest with our greatest champion, you my son. You must guard and protect that stone with your life."

He saw the protest on Percy's face, and interjected before Percy could erupt. "I understand that this is yet another tremendous burden we have cast upon your shoulders Perseus. I understand that what we ask for is unfair, that more than any other you have earned the right to live your life as you wish. But you must understand, we ask this burden of you not for the sake of Olympus, or for the gods, but for the sake of not only our planet but the universe as a whole. Should the six infinity stones be gathered together as one, it could spell the end of all life as we know it my son."

Percy wanted to rant, he wanted to break something. This was exactly why he had left the mythological world behind. His entire life, he had been nothing more than a pawn, even worse, he had been an unwitting pawn. He had been forced into more horrific situations and lost so much because of the wicked world of the gods. Sure, he quickly realized that he had essentially put himself into a similar situation when he had signed onto SHIELD, but unlike the gods, his agency, director Fury, Natasha and Clint, they had never misled him. They had only ever had the best of intentions for Percy. And since joining the organization, Percy had been able to enact real good and change in the world, he had been able to make a difference, and he had done it on his own terms. His life had been his own and to have the gods re insert themselves back into his life, and attempt to usurp control back was so maddeningly frustrating Percy didn't know how to articulate his anger.

Perhaps even worse though, was that he knew his father was right. Asgard, and their own soap opera dramas had caused this mess, their own carelessness and arrogance had pushed one of their own to seek the help of a mad god to seek retribution. If the attack on New York was any indication, then humanity was horribly and laughably outclassed and outgunned. They would need every advantage. Percy had seen the mad titan himself, even through the projection Apollo had shown him, Percy had been able to feel the power and danger radiating off of the creature. His father was right, by hiding the stone with Percy, it might just give humanity that added extra edge to keep them in the fight, or even turn the tide against this oncoming evil. Thus, it was with great effort that Percy resigned himself to his fate. Taking a deep breath, Percy closed his eyes and counted backwards from ten, by the time he got to five, he was feeling much calmer.

"I'll do it" he said simply, looking to meet his father right in the eye.

Poseidon merely nodded, a brief look of relief flashing through his features that actually shook Percy. Had his father really doubted him? A brief feeling of shame washed over Percy. Shame that his father doubted Percy was still the man who would charge head first into battle just so someone else wouldn't have to. As quickly as it appeared though, the shame and guilt disappeared and Percy focused on the task at hand.

"Then it is done. And our time together is nearly at an end." Percy's father said sadly, "However, before we part, I have one final message for you."

"What is it?" Percy asked, intrigued.

"It is about your woman. Carol."

"What about her…" Percy said warily.

"When you awake, you will learn more about your Carol than you had expected. What you will learn will shock you, it will hurt you. You will feel betrayed. And you have every right to be. But I implore you to take what you will learn with an open mind and an open heart. The decisions that Miss Danvers has had to make were not easy, and not made without deliberate forethought and debate. Know that she cares for you. Deeply and truly, and that she has never had any intentions to hurt you."

Percy wanted to ask what his father meant, but he could already feel himself falling away from the beach.

"Good luck my son. May the trade winds guide you truly."

With that, Percy's eyes snapped open and he bolted upright in the bed. His chest was heaving heavily as he gazed quickly around the room. The sun was just beginning to rise, and small peals of light were just beginning to peek in through the windows of the apartment bedroom. Percy felt something small, and heavy dangle from his neck and hit his chest. Looking down, Percy saw the necklace Apollo had handed him, hanging from his neck, next to the dog tags on his chest. Reaching up, Percy lightly wrapped his fingers around the small box. It could have simply been in his head, but Percy thought that he could feel the power from the stone inside thrum against his fingertips. Releasing the necklace, Percy allowed the box to fall back against his chest with a sigh.

It was then that Percy realized he was alone. Looking to the other side of the bed, he found it empty. Carol wasn't there. "Carol?" he called out hesitantly, but there was no reply. He turned to stand but the sound of something falling lightly off the bed drew his attention. Leaning over to where Carol had fallen asleep the night before, Percy saw a small envelope on the floor, with his name written on the back. Reaching down, he nervously picked it up. He ripped the top off of the envelope, pulled the letter from its content, and began to read.

Miles away, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a sudden and powerful storm surged out of the ether. The ocean waves rose and fell as high as buildings and a torrential downpour began to fall. Dangerously powerful winds picked up the water and began cycling it through the air in a nightmarish cyclone of wind, rain and ocean water. The sea wept and raged, and destroyed, in the name of the man who felt too broken to do it himself.

 _ **AN:**_ **Alright so apologies on the delay for this one but I wanted to take the time to begin mapping out the next few arcs for my story. As can probably be figured out this chapter was more of an interlude. Meant to be a bit of bridge between the avengers arc and the Winter Soldier/AoU arc. Expect the next chapter in a few days at the latest. As always let me know what ya'll think and I hope you're excited for what's to come. Thanks for the love and support and have an awesome day!**

 **Love,**

 **LilDB**


	8. Paradise City

**San Francisco**

 **Fourteen Months Later**

One of the few things Jason Grace genuinely hated about his life outside the walls of the camp, was the sheer amount of real weather. It might have been a little silly, but when the vast majority of your formative years were spent with a system of weather control, the first real serious rain storm does come as a bit of a surprise. It wasn't that Jason necessarily hated the rain, or even weather in general. It just served all too often to make his life all that more complicated. He did spend a considerable amount of time outdoors these days, which in and of itself was not exactly a bad thing, but it did make days like today a little more grueling.

The third dead body in as many days wasn't helping his mood much though. The. Body of a seventeen-year-old Asian American girl lay lifeless in the gutter. Her body, turned black and blue, either by a viscous beating or a result of exposure to the elements, was bent and broken. Jason didn't like to make snap judgments, it was something the academy beat out of hopeful detectives, but Jason had seen and experienced enough to know something hinky when he saw it. The girl was almost painfully thin, as though she hadn't eaten properly in months. There were clumps of hair missing from her scalp, and there were large gouges in the skin of her arms and legs. It was almost like someone had been attempting to peel away the flesh for whatever reason. In particular, there was a large chunk of skin missing from her right upper forearm, that looked almost as if it had been cut away with a surgical knife.

However, the injuries of the girl weren't what was making Jason sick to his stomach. He had experienced too much during the wars to be affected by brutalized corpses anymore. No what was bothering him was that in the last three days, two other bodies, sporting similar wounds had been found around the city. Word had come down from on high while Jason was driving to the scene, apparently the mayor and police commissioner were ordering a gag on any and all talks of a serial killer. It brought a foul taste to Jason's mouth. The city was coming into a new election cycle, in twelve months' time both the mayor and police commissioner would find their jobs in potential jeopardy. A serial killer running rampant in the streets of San Francisco would be exactly the kind of the thing that could cost someone an election. So, there it was, under the guise of "maintaining civil order" the phrase "serial killer" was taboo. It certainly helped that every dead body found appeared to be homeless. It was one thing for wealthy socialites to be kidnapped and butchered, it was something else entirely for it to happen to some no name.

Jason sighed, pulling his jacket a little closer around him as the rain came down a little harder than before. "I'm guessing nobody saw anything?" he said, talking loudly to be heard over the rain.

The man next to Jason snorted, "What do you think? Anonymous tip, middle of the night, dark ass alley. We're not gonna find anyone who knows shit."

Jason's partner, Roger Davis, was one of the older veteran detectives. A tall, mastodon of a human being, Davis had been on the job for some two decades and had one of the best arrest records in the state. With deep frown, Davis turned away from the body, "We can't do anything else from here, just gotta wait and see what forensics can dig up for us." Before Davis could finish his thought though, he was cut off by the shrill sound of his phone. "Hello?" Said Davis gruffly, "Yes this is Detective Davis. We were just finishing up, why? You've gotta be shitting me Todd. Well why they hell-no, you know what I don't care. Fine, the kid and I are on our way." Shoving his phone back into his pocket, Davis turned back to Jason, "Come on, we gotta get back to the station."

"What's going on?" Said Jason as he jogged after his partner,

"Looks like the brass won't be keeping this shit quiet much longer. The feds are getting involved." Said Davis without looking at Jason.

That was confusing, what the hell were federal agents doing here? It wasn't all that uncommon, especially in this weird new age of superhumans, for federal agents and local law enforcement to work more frequently together. However, nothing about the case, they had been working struck Jason as the type of situation to draw federal attention. Maybe it was something else. Jason wouldn't speculate and instead just followed his partner to their parked cars, just thankful for the moment that he would be out of the rain. Jason turned the engine over and cranked the heat. Pulling his seatbelt over his chest Jason only hoped that whatever was waiting for him at the station would be over quickly.

He wanted to get home to his wife and infant daughter. Little Kassandra was his and Piper's world. When she was born, Jason had been almost scared to hold her. She had been so small, so fragile feeling, that he had felt like he might break her if he held just a little tight. But he had never felt more in love than when he laid his eyes on his daughter's beautiful face. She had her mother's eyes. The kaleidoscope of colors that had drawn Jason in all those years ago had captivated him in an entirely new way. Pulling out of the small alleyway Jason decided that he ultimately didn't care what the feds wanted from him. He would work through whatever this little meet and greet was as fast as possible.

He had a family he needed to spend time with.

BREAK

Amy hopes that Jason had for a quick meeting were dashed the second he set his sights on the station. It wasn't as though there was an armada of federally marked vehicles, if helicopters warming up for a pursuit. Instead, it was a single black SUV with SHIELD printed on the side in bold white letters. Jason felt his stomach fall out. After the invasion in New York, all law enforcement agencies in the United States were given debriefings on the clandestine agency. Whereas before, SHIELD agents circumvented traditional command channels, after the invasion the agency became the biggest kid on the playground. When a SHIELF agent needed something, they got it. No questions asked. It didn't matter how inconvenient or seemingly unimportant the request was, whatever SHIELD wanted, it got. Jason had considered himself lucky that so far, San Francisco had been spared from any SHIELD inquiries.

At least until now.

"Shit" he mumbled as he got out of his car. Not far from him, Davis was doing the same. Jason tried to meet Davis' gaze but the man was staring absently at the SUV. After a moment of observation Davis turned away from the SUV and began walking towards the station house. Once inside the pair were directed by the secretary that precincts captain was waiting for them with SHIELD agent in the largest meeting room on the third level.

If Jason has thought seeing a SHIELD stamped SUV in the parking lot had been a surprise, it was nothing compared to what was waiting inside the room. Following his mentor into the room, Jason almost jumped. Percy Jackson, all six foot four inches and two hundred and forty pounds of muscle, stood over the conference table staring into a tablet. Jason blinked, then blinked again, tried to say something. Couldn't, tried again and when his voice failed a second time, decided he was better off not saying anything.

The room sat in a stilled silence for several moments. Neither Davis nor Jason, spoke. And Percy didn't say anything either, just continued typing away at his tablet. It was quiet like that for some time, the room utterly silent except for the 'tap tap tap' of Percy's fingers. It soon became clear to Jason that Percy didn't even register that there were other people in the room. Jason shared a glance with Davis who shrugged, and coughed loudly into his hand. Jason watched as Percy literally jumped where he was standing. Jason tried not to smile, despite the years and the distance, Percy was still Percy.

"Oh, sorry about that." Percy said, adjusting himself as he finally met eyes with the pair of them. Jason waited for the flash of recognition, the shock in Percy's eyes at seeing him there. But there was nothing. Either Percy was a very, very good actor, or he had known Jason was going to be at this meeting.

Percy looked between the two of them, before addressing Davis. "I requested a meeting with detective Grace. Not you." He said simply. It wasn't offensive or even overly rude, merely the tone someone took when stating an absolute fact.

"Whatever you can say to my partner, you can say to me." Said Davis simply, folding his arms over his broad chest.

"Yeah no. Actually, I can't. I made it pretty clear to your captain that I needed detective Grace. Him, not you." Said Percy, also getting into a defensive stance with his arms crossed over his chest. Even with the sleeves of his jacket rolled up to the elbows, Jason make out the faint marking on Percy's forearm, branding him as a member of the legion.

"And I don't really care kid. Grace here had promise, but he's only been at this for a year. The captain said you were taking control of our case, because for whatever reason SHIELD thinks that a string of random homeless homicides warrants its attention. Whatever you think is going on here, you're going to need every hand on deck, I've worked with you types before and this shit is never simple. It's always world ending or some crap so let's can the bullshit, stow the testosterone and jump to the part where you tell us what's going on."

Percy just stared at him for a long a minute, long enough for even Davis to begin shifting uncomfortably. Finally, Percy just sighed and rubbed at his eyes. "I do not have the energy for whatever this is right now." He said and raised a hand at Davis. With a snap of his fingers he said "sleep!" A vapor of watery mist seemed to materialize around Davis' head for a moment. The big man wavered in place for a moment, before collapsing forward. He would have land face first on the floor had Jason not caught him.

"Percy! What the hell?!" Jason shouted, but Percy ignored him. Instead he was talking into a device on his ear.

"Cleanup in room 346. Got a detective Roger Davis up here. Need a memory shift and vacation for him and his family. I'm thinking somewhere in the Caribbean." Percy paused as he listened to the other person on the line. "Yeah, I gotcha. Tell the boss man I'll have an update for him later tonight." Another pause for an exchange of information. "Confirmed." He said. Turning back to Jason he said, "you can leave him here, my people will take care of him."

Jason was going to have none of that however, "What the hell is going on Percy! What did you do to him?"

"What?" asked Percy, looking away from his tablet once more.

"The hell did you do to him? What is going on? Why are you even here?!" the words tumbled out of Jason's mouth in a jumbled mess.

"Relax man, take a breath and calm down." Percy pointed at the still form of Jason's partner, "I used a form of mist manipulation to knock your boy out. Some of my people are gonna pick him up, modify his memories so he forgets all about me. He's gonna wake up at home, having been given a free vacation to somewhere tropical for him and his family. Trust me here man, your partner is going to be just fine."

Jason wasn't placated however, "Why the hell did you need to knock him out in the first place? He's been doing this nearly as long as we've been alive. And speaking of, you still haven't answered why the hell you are here and what you want! You disappear for six years only to show up unannounced in my precinct and then you knock out my gods dammed partner. So I'm only going to ask you one more time, what is going one?"

Percy nodded at him, "Look man, I get it. Believe me I do. Here's the short version. That murder case you and Davis there have been working? We have very good reason to believe that your victims aren't homeless. At least not exactly."

Jason folded his arms under his chest and frowned, "Homeless or not, I still don't understand why you're here or why SHIELD is involved at all. OR why we couldn't use the help of a man who has been active in the field for longer than the two of us have been alive!" Jason shouted the end of his statement, completely uncaring if anyone could hear him. He was beyond frustrated, he had wanted to be happy for Percy, happy to let him live his life but it was not only unfair but uncalled for, for Percy to barge into Jason's life unannounced, and attack his partner.

Percy sighed, then looked around him before gesturing Jason to step a little closer to him. Jason did so, and Percy lowered his voice to little more than a whisper. "The kids are some of ours" he said and surreptitiously tapped at the branding on his forearm.

Jason's eyes widened in shock, "You're serious?" he whispered back. Percy just nodded solemnly at him. "How can you be sure?" Jason asked,

"Not here." Percy said, "You got a place here in the city, right?" Jason nodded, still too shocked at the revelation that someone was systematically hunting down demigods to speak. "Good," said Percy, "I'll meet you there, go over everything we know and how we need to move forward on this."

With that, Percy moved past Jason and made to walk out of the room, "Wait," Jason called after him, "I didn't tell you my address,"

Without turning around Percy said over shoulder, "I'm SHIELD. I'll find you."

BREAK

"So wait," Said Piper from her place at the table, Kassandra held carefully in her arms as she fed, "I can't help but feel like you glossed over Percy's casual use of the mist. I didn't know it even worked like that."

Jason shrugged as he tended to the stew on the stove, "It wasn't exactly the most pressing thing on my mind at the time. I was little too preoccupied with the fact that Percy had just knocked him out without so much of a blink of his eye."

"Fair enough," Piper conceded, "But still. I didn't even know that it worked that way."

"I still don't think it's as important as the fact that demigods are being killed."

"You're right, you're right." Piper placated, "But he wouldn't tell you anything else?"

"No," Said Jason as he turned the stove down to simmer and began ladling stew into a pair of bowls. "For whatever reason he didn't seem all that comfortable discussing it at the station." Picking up both bowls he walked back over to the table and placed Piper's down in front of her. "Now that I've had some time to think on it, I can't exactly blame him on that one either. If it's as bad as he seems to think that it is then we shouldn't be talking about it where other people might be able to hear us."

"Do you think we should take this to Camp Jupiter?"

"Not sure what they could do if I'm honest." Said Jason as he sat down next to Piper at the end of the table. "More than likely the legion would hold the camp on lockdown, might even begin sending fewer kill teams out into the field."

"They wouldn't do anything?" Piper asked, shocked.

Jason shrugged, "Not too much they could do honestly. We don't really have any way of knowing what demigods are doing when they're outside of the camp. I checked in with Reyna and apparently nobody has been gone missing from inside of the camp which means that the ones being taken are not residing within the walls."

Piper's response was cut off as the doorbell rang abruptly. The two shared a look before Jason rose and moved to answer the door. A few moments later Jason re-entered the room followed by Percy, who upon setting eyes upon Piper and more specifically the bundle in her arms, froze. His eyes were glued to little Kassandra.

"Baby." he said.

"Good to see you're still as observative as ever Percy." laughed Piper who passed Kassandra off to Jason so she could hug Percy. "It's so good to see you again Percy" she said as she wrapped her arms tightly around the larger man.

Percy wrapped her up in kind, "It's good to see you too Piper." Piper leaned away from Percy, a smile still on her face, before she punched him in the stomach. Or rather she tried to. It was like punching a wall of iron.

"Gods above Percy what the hell have you been doing to yourself?" she said as she tried to shake her hand off.

"What the hell was that for?" Percy asked, rubbing at the spot she tried to hit him.

"Well, it was supposed to be a statement. I was going to hit you, you'd double over gasping in pain, and I'd stand over you and say something awesome like, 'that's for not talking to anyone in over five years you jackass,' and it was going to be awesome. So thanks for ruining my moment Percy."

"Sorry for taking your moment Pipes." snarked Percy, not sounding the least bit apologetic. "So…" Percy said awkwardly, "A kid huh?"

Piper laughed as she sat down next to Jason and took her daughter back into her arms, a beautiful smile marking her lips as she gazed down at her sleeping child. "Yes" she laughed, "Percy, meet Kassandra."

Percy just stared at the small bundle in small wonder. Jason could only wonder what was going through his head at that moment. Maybe he was thinking the same thing Jason was, that if things had gone differently, that if Percy hadn't been arrested, hadn't been abandoned by the gods, would the roles would be different, would Percy have his own little bundle of joy, his own home and a normal career? Somehow Jason doubted it. And as much as Jason wanted to catch up with Percy, find out exactly where he had been and what he had been doing the last several years, they had much more pressing matters to attend to.

Coughing into his hand, he drew Percy's attention away from Kassie, "You said we needed to talk Percy. So start talking."

Piper lightly smacked Jason on the arm, "Don't be rude Jay." turning back to Percy she asked, "Would you like something to eat Perce?

Percy just laughed as he sat down in the empty chair on the other side of the table, "I'd love something. Thank you, haven't had the chance to eat all day."

"Of course" beamed Piper, who pointedly looked over at Jason who rolled his eyes but complied. A few moments later, Percy had his own bowl of stew in front of him. Saying his thanks Percy took a big bite, Jason and Piper following suit. Percy let out a low moan of satisfaction, but Jason was feeling a little impatient.

"So what's going on Percy?" He asked, ignoring the look Piper sent him. Percy took a few moments to answer him, shoveling a few more bites of food.

"Alright, so this whole thing goes back about five months ago." Percy began, "I got a call from a friend of mine, she says that this girl, daughter of Demeter, that goes to her school has gone missing. I'm not talking like run away from home, or out for the weekend either, no this girl isn't answering calls, texts, emails, nothing. So I start looking into it." Percy's face went very sullen, and his eyes gained a distant far-away look to them. "Her body washed up on the shores of the east bank in Jersey about a month ago. She had been beat to all hell, cut up and just utterly brutalized. I remember so clearly, that her right forearm had a hunk of flesh missing, that looked like someone had taken a buzz saw to her arm."

Percy paused in his speech, looking at but not quite seeing Piper and Jason. "I had a bad feeling, kind of a gut reaction more than anything else. I had some of our intel teams do some searches. I had them looking for anything that might be even remotely similar to my girl." Percy had Jason and Piper's rapt attention. "After some digging, they came back with some...disturbing findings." Percy continued. "For nearly a year kids have been disappearing, and reappearing dead and brutalized. Not enough to seemingly be connected, but there does seem to be a pattern." Percy paused to take a sip of water.

"The kids are always from big cities. New York. LA. Chicago. Never good kids from good homes. Almost always orphans or foster kids, the type that can slip through the cracks without anyone bothering to look too hard."

"Interesting but not exactly enough to fit a pattern of behavior. It also doesn't explain how you know these kids are demigods." Said Jason.

Percy nodded at him, still not quite looking at him. "I was getting there. Did some more digging and found that most of these kids did have school records. Want to know what they all had in common? All fourteen kids had been diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. Every single one of them."

"That still doesn't prove that they were demigods..." Said Jason, but even he didn't really believe what he was saying.

Percy shot him a look that told Jason that Percy wasn't going to buy that one for a second. But he didn't say anything instead, he reached down and picked up the bag Jason had seen him walk in with. Reaching into the bag Percy withdrew several items. There were several bracelets, a ring, a pair of wristwatches, and a necklace. Percy gestured to Jason to pick up the items. Hesitantly, Jason reached over and grabbed one of the wristbands. Putting it on, he glanced back up at Percy who nodded at him. Jason whipped his wrist to the side in a quick and practiced motion. In a flash, the bracelet transformed into a large bronze shield. Jason had to quickly scooch backwards and away from the dinner table.

"Picked that up off a kid in southside Chicago. All of these are enchanted. Every last damn one of em. Some are weapons some aren't. But every kid I found, had something on them."

"They didn't get taken away when the they were kidnapped?" Asked Piper, and when Percy shook his head, she asked, "but why? Doesn't that seem sloppy? Wouldn't you want to remove any potential weapons from someone?"

"Exactly what I thought" said Percy, "I haven't got the slightest idea why they were allowed to keep their weapons."

"Ok." said Jason, cutting across the discussion, "Do you have any idea why these kids are being kidnapped in the first place."

"I actually think I might." Reaching once more into the bag, Percy withdrew the tablet Jason had seen Percy fiddling with back at the station. He turned it on and began swiping through series of pages,

"Uh should you really be showing us all of this?" Piper asked looking concerned, "I mean aren't you breaking some laws or something by going over all of this with us?"

"Nah." said Percy without looking up, "My boss knows I'm doing this. It's part of the deal we have, he let's me deal with our little familial problems without interfering. Here." he said sliding the tablet across the table and over to Jason. Looking down at the tablet, Jason was bombarded with a series of chemical compounds that left Jason's head reeling a little.

"What the hell am I looking at here?" Jason asked,

"It's a neurological agent. Designed by Bruce Banner about six years ago. Imagine if Xanax met Adderall had a baby and that baby also worked as a steroid that amplifies your capacity for rational thought to eleven and that is what you're looking at."

"Did you analyze this yourself?" asked Piper as she leaned over to look at the tablet,

"Oh hell no." said Percy shaking his head, "That is well outside my wheelhouse. I had a team of forensics experts analyze the compounds we found in one of the bodies. They found this in the blood of the first victim we found."

"You said it was designed by Bruce Banner?" asked Jason, getting them back on track, "What is it supposed to do?"

"According to Bruce, it was meant to keep him essentially comatose. He was trying to figure out how to keep the other guy from taking over and thought that by keeping himself so calm and focused he could barely function would work."

"I take it that the magic drug didn't work?" asked Piper wryly.

Percy snorted, "Hell no. According to Bruce, it only worked at pissing the other guy off even more."

"So what does it mean?" asked Jason,

"Your guess is as good as mine." said Percy, "Best I can figure is that someone is kidnapping these kids in order to pump them full of this drug. Why? I couldn't tell you. My guess is that it has some kind of a reaction with Demigods, either good or bad enough to warrant rather thorough experimentation."

Jason sighed and tiredly rubbed at his eyes. "Ok so just to recap, we know demigods are being targeted. We don't know how someone knows these kids are demigods or even how they're being taken. We know that they're being pumped full of some sort of super drug but we don't know why, and we don't know who is behind any of this. In short, we know-"

"Nothing, yes." Confirmed Percy.

"So what exactly do you want me to do that you couldn't do yourself with all your SHIELD shit?" Jason asked.

"Because we have contacts that SHIELD doesn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Ok so yes, there's a few other demigods in SHIELD, but the organization is a tight knit community, and very insular. Most of us don't really have contact with our old lives. We don't know who is running the show anymore and don't have an in into the community."

"And you think we do?" Asked Piper,

"Yes, I do. Whether we like it or not, we are part of the Seven. I'm guessing that's part of the reason you two left the city. Got tired of all of the hero worship."

Piper and Jason shared a look. It had indeed been a large factor for why they had decided to leave New Rome. Following the second war, their lives were flipped upside down. Jason had to nearly fight through throngs of grateful citizenry just to get to the senate to perform his duties. All they had wanted was to live a semi-normal and peaceful life, something that was impossible after the war.

"I don't know Percy." said Jason after a moment, "I want to help, really I do, but we just got a life started here. I have a kid man. I can't be gallivanting off into the unknown with to fight the evils of the universe." Percy noticeably flinched at that but Jason ignored it, "I feel for these kids, I want, no, I need them to have justice served for what was done to them. But this isn't just me anymore." It was true too. People often forgot that Jupiter was also the god of justice. The idea that demigods were being kidnapped experimented on filled him with an unbridled fury. A very large part of him was shouting to get off his ass and do something about this. But Kassandra and Piper were his life now. His entire world, what right did Percy have to butt his head into Jason's life and demand his help.

A small traitorous part of him said that he owed this to Percy after throwing him to the wolves all those years. Jason had been righteously anger then too. He had been unable to help his friend through a trying and difficult part of his life, all because the gods refused to let Jason or any of Percy's other friends interfere.

"I'm not asking you to fight Jason." said Percy easily, raising his hand sin a show of peace, "I don't want your shield or your sword, all I'm asking for is your brain. I've seen your records, you've got some of the best arrest records in the entire damn country. You know how to conduct an investigation. I'm a hammer Jason. I'm very good at door busting, at knocking down the bad guys. But I need some help on the investigative side. Someone I can trust to see the things that I don't. To be able to put things together in a way that I can't." Percy's phone rang then, pulling it out of his pocket, Percy glanced at the id on the screen. "Look man, I have to take this, but please just think about it a little please. If not for my sake, then for theirs." he said, pointing at still discarded accessories on the table. With that, Percy stood up from the table and answered his phone.

Jason looked over at Piper, still cradling their child in her arms and then into her eyes. "What do you think?" he asked, and from the look in his wife's eyes, he already knew the answer.

Jason needed to get his bags packed.

 _ **AN:**_ **Two updates back to back? Ain't you guys lucky! I've been trying to get some stuff cranked out here while I have some time. Hope you guys enjoy, I have some fun ideas for this. For those who have been through my old story, you're about to see the updated and hopefully cleaned up second arc I put together for that story. It'll be fun. ANyhoo, thanks for the read and love. Lemme know what ya think and have a great day!**

 **Love,**

 **LilDB**


	9. Sweating Bullets

Jason and Piper had been trying to hammer out the details of Jason's upcoming absence when Percy re-entered the house. The man looked, conflicted about something. Like he was trying to recall something at the very edge of his memory but just couldn't grasp onto it for whatever reason.

"What's up?" he asked,

Percy shrugged out of his daze, "Just got word back from one of the forensics teams I'm working with, they found something weird in the DNA in one of the victims. Some kind genetic mutation, not normally something that they would worry too much about. Except that when they got the reports back from the other offices, two of the other victims shared the exact same genetic mutation."

Jason perked up, "You're thinking it's related then."

"Yeah, I am. I just don't know how. Listen, I really need you up at Camp Jupiter. I need you to go through Legion archives and see if you can figure out anything at all about these dead kids."

"You think some of them are former legion?"

"I do. Didn't you notice something strange on the arm of your dead girl yesterday?"

Jason thought back for a minute before nodding, "Yeah, it looked like someone had taken a scalpel to her forearm. Like they were carving something out. You think they were taking off the branding."

Percy nodded, "I do. Can't fathom why they would want to do something like that though."

"There are a couple possibilities. Could be that they wanted to try and cover their tracks. Didn't want to risk the chance of someone recognizing legion symbols. Could be ritualistic. Or we could just be dealing with a real sick son of a bitch. Try not to focus too much on the why until we know more of the who, what, when and where." Jason instructed and Percy nodded.

"Sounds good."

"And what are you going to be doing?" Asked Piper from her place at the table.

Percy turned and looked at her. "I'm heading back to New York. See if Chiron recognizes anyone from the list. The sooner we know more about these kids, and how or where they got taken. The sooner we'll likely be able to put the rest of the pieces together."

"And what about the mutations? That seems like something worth looking into." Jason said, standing up and heading off to begin packing.

"I've got that covered. There's someone in New York I'll talk to about it. For now, I just need you to focus on anything you can dig up at Camp Jupiter." Percy was grabbing his bag from the floor and walking to the door. "I'll be in touch. Piper it was great seeing you again." And with that, he walked out the door.

"He's certainly…different." Said Piper as the door close behind Percy. "He's like a completely different guy."

"Not that surprising." called Jason from the bedroom, "He's been gone for a long time. And if he's been with SHIELD the entire time it's probably only right that he's going to be a different man."

"I guess." Said Piper, adjusting Kassandra in her arms, "It's just weird ya know. Like even when he was a camper, he was still…I don't know less of an ass?"

Jason snorted, "He's still the same guy, he's just on the clock. I'm sure you remember him during the war? He wasn't exactly a bundle of laughs then either."

Piper sighed, "You're right. You're right."

Jason stepped back into the dining room, a packed duffle bag slung over his shoulders. He stepped over to Piper and leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips, reaching down he gently caressed his daughter's hair, "I'll try and be back as quickly as possible, shouldn't take me too long to find what we're looking for."

"I know, just try and stay out of trouble alright?" Piper said, reaching up to cup a cheek gently,

"It's just info gathering, shouldn't run into any trouble whatsoever." Jason said, leaning into her touch,

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of." said Piper sadly.

BREAK

"Run that by me again. Because it sounded an awful lot like you, a civilian, asked for access to classified legion documentation."

Jason held back an eye roll as he looked at the puffed-up child sitting across from him. This was exactly the type of bureaucratic horse dung that led to him and Piper opting out of living in the city. The newest class of legionnaires were not the type that brought honor to Rome. They were power mongers and demagogues, looking to use the position of Praetor to accumulate political power in the Senate following their military careers. It was the new dichotomy in the post-Gaea world. In an effort to bolster unity in the face of the war, a civilian component of the senate had been created, allowing for individuals who had never served in the legion to have an open voice and political representation in the city.

Jason had thought it a bad idea when Frank signed off on it, and he thought it was an even worse idea now. It created an avenue for kids who had no business leading the legion to hold powerful and influential positions.

Jason withheld a sigh, and gave the kid his best, most intimidating glare. "Son, allow me to explain some things to you. I once stared down Gaea herself and came out on top. I have seen unthinkable hells that would make you piss your pants. So excuse me if some sorry sack of shit, who hasn't seen the bloody side of a battlefield in his entire career, doesn't intimidate me in the least, in fact, for the last thirty seconds I have been seriously considering just beating your ass into the ground and taking what I need but I'm trying to be professional about this. Second, that information is most certainly not classified, and is not classified to former gods be damned Praetors. Third, and I'm going to really need you to follow me on this one kid. I'm getting my hands on that information because right now demigods are being hunted down and killed. So, the longer you make me sit here and wait, the more legionnaires potentially die. How would that look on your potential political aspirations? So, get the hell out of my way, and let me in."

The young Praetor, Jason hadn't even bothered to learn his name because the Praetors after Frank and Reyna were too much of a disappointment, was shaking in his seat. "Y-yes sir. I-I um I-I will just let you I'm go uh, just head on in sir. Yes, yes, head on inside. A man of your prestige must uh, be able to uh pursue any leads pertaining to um your very important investigation." Turning to the guards in front of the archives, the Praetor ushered them aside and finally allowed Jason to pass.

Pointedly ignoring the red-faced Praetor, Jason marched into the marble building. Like the rest of the city, the building was ornate, and pinnacle of ostentatious. Tall, circular walls lined with seemingly endless rows of book shelves. The books in the archives held all known artifacts of the legion, from the full rosters of the first through the twelfth legions, to the histories of Rome and even some unknown collections of art. Looking up, Jason looked at the intricate mural on the ceiling. It had been recently redone, and it depicted the war against the Giants. From Reyna and Thalia leading the defense of the camp, to Percy, Jason and the twelve fighting at the Gates of Death. Jason suppressed a shudder as a sudden chill overcame him at the memories.

Refocusing, Jason marched away from the entrance towards where he knew the roster lists were located. Given the ages of the deceased, Jason had a good idea of where and when he was meant to begin. Pulling a large, leather bound book from a shelve in a dark corner of the archive, Jason pulled up a chair to small table and set himself up to work. It didn't take too long to find the first name, Jonathon, Francis Kirby, son of Venus, entered the legion when he was eight and retired when he was sixteen. Like all others who had served during the wars, he had been given the option to retire from the service. He had no claimed living mortal parents or relatives. He apparently did have a guardian but the information merely said he had a guardian, and did not specify whom it was. He had a permanent address that Jason didn't recognize in Westchester, New York. Writing down the information, Jason continued his digging.

It took an hour or so but he came across a second name, Toya Okimbe, came to New Rome when she was eleven, joined the legion shortly thereafter. Again, she served the Legion in an auxiliary role during the war and served out her career, before leaving New Rome when she was eighteen. Her current whereabouts were listed as unknown. Like Jonathon, she had no living mortal family, which was in line with what Jason already knew. He wasn't expecting to find any of the victims to have any surviving mortal family left. He paused however, when he came across the guardian and permanent address information. Again, a guardian was listed as existing, but no name was written down. What really caught his attention was address. It was the same address listed under Jonathon's name.

Jason frowned, looked like he might have found what was connecting the victims, the problem was that he had no idea why these kids would have been living at the same address. It also could simply be a coincidence but Jason didn't think so. It took Jason another three hours of digging but he finally dug through the rest of the roster information. In the end, of the sixteen missing kids, eight were former legions. All eight were orphans, had some no named guardian, and had the same address listing in Westchester New York. Rubbing his face, Jason reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. He wasn't sure when or how Percy had done it, but at some point, the man had slipped a cell phone into Jason's car with a single phone number listed in the directory. The phone rang twice before there was click,

"Jackson." said Percy's voice into the other end, his tone all business,

"It's Jason, I think I got something here."

"Same," said Percy, "Eight of the kids were former campers here. Chiron remembers they lived here during the summer but that they all left during the school year. He couldn't remember where they stayed or where they went to school. But they were all orphans, all vets of the war, and all had lost contact with any of their siblings at some time in the last year."

Jason nodded, even the Percy couldn't see the action through the phone, "I got a little more. Like you, eight of the kids were former Legion. All former foster kids, all fought during the war in auxiliary positions. But here is where it gets interesting, they all have the same permanent address."

"Where?" Asked Percy, sounding excited,

"1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, in Westchester, New York."

Jason was met with silence. "Percy?" He asked, "Are you there man?"

"Are you positive?" Percy asked,

Jason frowned, kind of insulted that Percy would think he would get something simple like an address incorrect. But then again, Percy clearly recognized the address from somewhere. "Of course, I'm positive. Percy what's going on? What's at that address."

"Great work Jason, I need to check on something, you can head on back home. You've done enough for today; I'll give you a call when I have more for you."

"Wait Percy what the hell is going on? What's happen-" There was a click and the line went dead.

Jason looked at the phone in his hand for a second, incredulity on his face,

"Dick…" he said.

BREAK

Percy tried to get his breathing under control as he brought his phone back up to his ear.

"Alexis Glaum of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services how may I help you." said a sweet voice on the other end of the line,

"Hi Alexis this agent Jackson, I called earlier today, do you think you could put through to Dr. Grisham again?"

"Of course, agent, one moment."

The line was silent for a moment until the sound of a new connection broke through followed a new woman's voice. "This is Dr. Grisham; how can I help you."

"Evening Dr. Grisham, this is agent Jackson how're you?"

"I'm doing great, thank you. What can I do for you agent?"

"I'm going to need a report that genetic anomaly you were telling me about."

"Why do you know something?"

Percy fought off a sigh. Most of the general populace was still unaware of the existence of mutants and he was in no mood right now to play around with some forensics specialist in Michigan.

"I'm meeting with a specialist," he said, doing his best to remain vague, "And I want to present your findings to see if they can shed any light on what you've found."

The woman on the other end snorted in derision, "I honestly don't think they're going to find something that we couldn't" she snapped. Grisham was clearly aggravated that she hadn't been able to accurately figure out what she and her team had been analyzing. "And," she continued, "I don't see how a few genetic mutations mean anything in regards to your case."

"Dr. Grisham," Percy said, forcing his voice to remain as even as he could in spite of his raising annoyance, "I am not insinuating that you and your team are not more than capable of doing your jobs. I simply need a different perspective, I'm pursuing a lead and that little anomaly you and your team found could be the difference between finding the bastards killing kids, or another dead body. So, if you want to continue throwing up road-blocks and wasting my time, the next body I find can weigh on your conscience."

Dr. Grisham didn't say anything for a moment before Percy heard her sigh and sound of keys being typed on a keyboard. "I just forwarded the information to you agent. I-I apologize for snapping at you. It's been a stressful few days," the doctor apologized.

"It's ok Dr. Grisham. Believe me, I understand and I'm also sorry for being short with you. We're all at the end of our wits here. Thank you, I really appreciate all of your hard work," said Percy placatingly.

"Please agent, keep me appraised of how things turn out."

"Of course, Dr. Thanks again," and with that Percy hung up. A few moments later, Percy's phone buzzed as he received an email. Unlocking his phone, he found the email and attached report on the mutations found by the forensics teams. It might as well have been gobbledygook to Percy, however when compared to the other relevant information Percy had been presented with, it painted a disturbing and highly distressing situation. Percy didn't want to jump to conclusions but he couldn't help himself.

Someone was targeting mutant demigods.

He was sure of it. Knowing what he needed to do, he turned the keys back into the ignition of his car, he had pulled off to the side of the road to call Jason, and pulled back onto the highway.

What the hell was he going to do with Jason on this? He hadn't been lying to the man, Percy needed Jason's brain and his training. Percy was smarter than most gave him credit for, but his mind just didn't work in the critically analytical way that was necessary for the type of case work this was. Sure, he could put a few clues together, he could connect dots, but he didn't know how to track down cold leads, or ask the hard questions. He was a back breaker; it was why he worked so well with Natasha. She offset his hammer with a scalpel. Not for the first time he wished that Fury had reassigned him to the same team as Nat and Steve. That was his bread and butter, not this pseudo detective crap. He shook his head; he was getting off base again. He refocused on the problem at hand. Did he bring Jason into the fold, did he clue the man into one of the greatest secrets not just in the United States but internationally?

Percy shook his head. It wasn't even a decision. Of course he could trust Jason. He was former legion; he could be trusted with sensitive information. Besides, if anyone could sympathize with the plight of mutants, it was a demigod. With his decision made, Percy turned his car onto the on ramp taking him away from New York City proper and towards Westchester county.

BREAK

It was dark by the time he arrived at the mansion. Pulling up to the gate he stopped to roll down his window, and spoke into the speaker on the side of the gate. "Hey," he said, I don't know who's manning this thing tonight but it's Agent Percy Jackson of SHIELD. I need to speak with Professor Xavier. It's very important."

For a minute there was no response, the only noise in the area being the slight rumble of the engine of Percy's car as it idled. After what felt to Percy like an eternity, a voice answered. It was deep and rumbling, like rolling thunder, and heavily accented. "I am very sorry Perseus; however, the professor is in very important meeting now. Can not be seeing you at this time." Percy knew the Russian voice on the other end.

"Is it about the missing students?" Percy asked. There was another long pause, and without another word, there was a buzz and the gate to the driveway became open to Percy.

Rolling up his window, Percy drove up the main drive to the front of the house. As he was closing the door to his car the door to the mansion opened, and a large hulking figure squeezed through the doorway. It was a man, standing at over seven feet tall, the man was as broad as he was tall. However, the sheer size of the gargantuan was not the man's most notable quality, instead it was the man's skin or rather lack-thereof. Where there would be skin on a normal man, there was instead hard silver steel, like he had manufactured in a Soviet factory.

"Hello Perseus." said the large man.

"Hello Piotr." Percy said back, not taken aback by the large man. Piotr Nikolayevich Rasputin, better known as Colossus, had been one of the first mutants Percy had met. He had helped Percy fend off a pack of hellhounds as Percy had been attempting to help a young mutant demigod make their way to mansion. It had been nearly of week of constant fighting, and Percy had been beaten battered and bruised. Piotr had helped carry him off to the mansion and assisted in his recovery.

"Come." Piotr said simply. Percy knew the man wasn't mad at him. Piotr was simply a brusk man. Not saying anything back to the man, as Percy knew that was the man's way, and Percy followed Piotr into the mansion. Retracing his steps, he had taken when he had attempted to coerce the X-Men into the Battle of New York, Percy found himself standing back in the same office looking around at the same faces he had pleaded to all those months ago.

He tried to push down the rush of anger that threatened to boil over. Thoughts of the bodies he had seen littering the streets and the building he had cleared came to the forefront of Percy's thoughts. He breathed in deeply and tried to collect himself, he briefly met eyes with the tall red-head in the corner. Jean Gray could only meet his eye for a second before she looked away, shame etching her face. She had clearly seen the visions at the tip of his thoughts and immediately Percy felt guilty. Had he been mad? Absolutely, after he'd had the time to consider the ramifications of the fighting, he had been righteously angry. He couldn't believe the arrogance and cowardice of Charles Xavier and the people he had considered friends. But eventually, after much reflection and circumspection he came to understand Charles and his team.

Percy had led before, had been in charge of the lives of hundreds. He understood that when you had the lives of your people at stake, your decisions had to be shaped in the way that would protect and guide them in the best way possible. And as such, he slowly come around to understand and respect the hard decision that Charles and his comrades had needed to make. And it wasn't as though they hadn't lent him a helping hand either. Without their aid he likely wouldn't have arrived in time to be impactful. Granted he could have called Blackjack, but his friend was nowhere near as fast as a supersonic jet. With those thoughts in his mind he tried to meet Jeans eyes, and thought as loudly and clearly as he could.

'It's ok Jean. I'm not mad, and I understand.'

The woman's head snapped over to him, eyes wide. Jean, ever since he had met the woman, had worn her heart on her sleeve. He knew that she had been watching the events unfold. He knew that she had been sitting there, watching the fighting worry and doubt and anxiety playing at her soul, and a war of indecision playing in her heart. And Percy knew that he needed to let this woman know, his friend and confidant, that he was not upset or angry. That he understood the difficult choice she had needed to make, that he still cared for her as he always had. He allowed these thoughts to permeate loudly in his head, and a beautiful, smile spread over Jean's face. Her shoulders visibly relaxed as a tension seemed to erase itself from her being. Smiling at her, his eyes looked to her immediate left, and the smile vanished from Percy as quickly as it had appeared. Scott Summers, was openly glaring at him. Or as much as he could beneath those red glasses he wore.

Openly ignoring the man, Percy smirked, while looking at the professor. "Something about this situation feels familiar, eh professor?"

The man in question chuckled, steeling his hands under his chin, "Indeed it does. Now, I believe that you had something rather urgent you needed to discuss?"

Percy nodded, reaching into his jacket he pulled out a small metallic device. With a flick of his wrist the device whirred to life and a holographic display sprang to life. The display was a rotating set of images of the dead half-bloods. "Over the last several months several demigods have been turning up dead, their bodies bruised and torn apart." The images changed to crime scene photos of the victims. Jean gasped into her hand and Hank McCoy averted his gaze from the images. A low growl from the corner told Percy exactly what Logan thought of the pictures.

"These kids come from different corners of the country, different walks of life, different races, creeds and even godly parents-"

"There a point to your little sales pitch Jackson?" growled the animalistic man.

"There is," said Percy, turning back to look at Charles, "The one thing they all had in common? Their last known permanent address was yours Charles. They were mutants. You recognize any of these kids?"

Charles sighed deeply, and rubbed at his eyes, "Yes I do." He said, "They were loners, stayed to themselves for the most part. Had difficulties with their studies which was, of course, to be expected with children of your disposition. But they were good kids. It is distressing, that they have been attacked. I take it you mean to presume that they were targeted."

"I do." Percy said, "I had some of our analysts out together a relative timetable, based on the times of death for the victims, as well as the damage done to the bodies, we have a decent idea of when the kids were captured. One disappearance every three months, like clockwork. It's why I'm here. I think whoever is targeting these kids is about to make another move, and soon."

The gathered individuals looked around at one another, a dark gloom seemed to fall over the gathered persons. Percy felt his stomach fall out,

"Oh god." He said quietly, "Who's missing?"

 _ **AN:**_ **Alrighty folks, here we go, chapter nine and things are starting to heat up. Took me a while to really figure out where I wanted to go here. I have general outlines and plot points that I want to reach for each story arc but its that sticky stuff in the middle that has been a real bastard to figure out. Anyway hope you guys have enjoyed the ride so far. I'm going to be backing off this project for a little while to focus back on The True Half-Blood Prince. But I wanted one last little piece to keep everyone over and keep ya thinking. Lemme know what you think and thank you all for the continued love and support.**

 **Love,**

 **LilDB**


	10. Separate Ways

"So you saw him, like you really saw him then? Like flesh and blood, totally, one-hundred percent in the real saw and talked to him?"

Jason repressed a groan and rolled his eyes, "Yes Leo," he said for what felt like the tenth time in the last hour, "I actually saw Percy. I'm working a case with him." They were sequestered in Jason's living room. The Seven and a few others had made it a point after the war to try and meet up every Sunday for dinner and to catch up, make sure they were all doing well. Everyone had made it this weekend sans Thalia, Reyna, and naturally Percy. His sister was off doing…whatever the hell the Hunters did in their spare time, and Reyna was on deployment somewhere in the Middle East. They had finished dinner and were just talking in the living room when Piper decided that it would be a good idea to drop the Percy bomb. There had been some…mixed reactions. At least Annabeth hadn't broken anything this time.

"You're working a case? Can Avengers even technically interfere with police work?" Asked Hazel from her spot curled into Frank.

Jason just shrugged, "He still technically works for SHIELD, and that is who's conducting the investigation."

"Why would he bring you in on it?" Asked Frank, "No offense, but I can't help but think that SHIELD has more important things to do than team up with local cops."

"Because this has something to do with demigods." Said Annabeth quietly. She was curled up on a plush lazy boy and hadn't said much of anything during the entire discussion.

It was frustrating how quick on the uptake the woman could be. Nodding, he said, "I guess someone has been kidnapping and killing demigods. Not monster attacks," he said quickly, seeing the idea already forming in several of his friends faces. "I guess whatever deal Percy struck with SHIELD gave him authority to do just about whatever the hell he wants to on cases involving…our people…"

"What do you know so far?" Annabeth asked, her curiosity peaked. Jason should have felt disturbed that nobody seemed to bat an eye at the knowledge that their own were being targeted for murder. Such was the life they lived, as unfortunate as it was, death was simply too common to place much stock in anymore.

"Not much." Jason admitted, scratching at the stubble growing at his chin, "The most I managed to dig up before Percy went radio silent was that all of the missing kids had the same last known place of residence. Some boarding school out in New York State. Xavier's? I think it was called?"

"Xavier?" Said Annabeth sharply, "As in Charles Xavier?"

"Yeah" confirmed Jason, confused at the reaction, "Why, you know him?"

Annabeth shook her head, "No. But I've heard of him. He's the world's foremost expert on genetic mutations. I'd heard rumors that he had started a school. Guess they were true."

"Ok…" Said Leo slowly, filling with a bracelet on his arm, "So what exactly does any of that have to do with Percy?"

Jason turned his attention back to Leo, "I just said…all of the missing students had that school as their last dated place of residence. That's all I managed to dig up before Percy cut me off. Haven't heard from him since, but I assume that he went there to investigate. He was on that side of the country."

A misty cloud enveloped the room, startling the occupants. "Jason Grace" said a disembodied voice through the mist, "You have a collect call from 'Percy Jackson' do you accept?" Two boxes for "yes" and "no" appeared in front of Jason. Without really considering the consequences-Jason figured it had to be important if Percy was calling him via iris messaging-Jason accepted. Percy's face filled the mist, he was sitting in what looked like the inside of a spaceship, or something. Odder still was that Percy was most certainly not alone. He could see someone's arm in a chair next to him, as well as several other chairs that looked occupied.

"Hey Jason, sorry if this is a bad time but this couldn't really wait." Said Percy. Jason noted the large bags under his eyes, and the haggard state of his hair and the growth of two days of stubble on his cheeks. The man looked like he hadn't slept since Jason had seen him, which was certainly not an impossibility. "Any mortals in the room? Or is it just you guys?" Percy asked, startling Jason. He hadn't thought that Percy was going to address the others in the room. And now that he had, the room exploded into a cacophony of noise. It sounded like everyone was trying to talk over one another. He thought he heard Leo ask what type of metal Stark's Iron Man suit was made of. Percy ignored the excited questioning, opting instead to apparently mute his side of the conversations-something Jason didn't even know they could do-and hold a private conversation with someone sitting next to him.

When the rest of the room finally realized that Percy had no intention of actually addressing any of their questions, they quieted down. When Percy saw that the questions had ceased, he spoke again. "Alright look, either everyone in that room right now needs to swear on the Styx that what they hear here will never be repeated, or ya'll need to leave."

"Like hell we're going to leave." Annabeth growled, "And how can you ask something like that anyway? You got a hell of a lot of nerve resurfacing, and intruding on our lives and requesting something like that."

Percy's face darkened for a second but it passed so quickly that Jason wasn't sure if it had happened, or was just a trick of the light.

"There are a couple of things wrong there. First, I didn't intrude on your life, you just so happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Second; frankly, at this point I could care less if Jason is involved further in this investigation or not. I needed his expertise and his access to the Camp Jupiter archives. The fact that I'm still keeping him in the loop at all is purely because I respect the man and genuinely want his help. Thirdly, what I need to tell Jason is technically an international secret. Telling even him is punishable in all UN member nations by fifty years in prison."

Well that seemed…excessive. Jason though, no matter what the secret could be that seemed like a bit of a stiff punishment. But either way he didn't care. While he certainly didn't appreciate Percy confirming that he had only been using Jason for his connections, Jason had to admit that Percy had not exactly lied to him about what he needed from Jason. Still, it felt like a bit of a dick move to just come out and say it like that. And to be fair, Annabeth did have a point. Their treatment of Percy notwithstanding, he still had no right to barge into his life and demand his assistance in this investigation. He sighed. He knew himself well enough though, whether Percy had manipulated him into assisting or not, whether Percy had a right to in the first place or not. It still didn't change the fact that someone or something was targeting demigods. His people. Jason would not sit idly by while it happened. Not if he could help it.

"I swear on the River Styx that I will not repeat what I am told today to another person beyond the confines of this room." He said, a crash of thunder signifying the impact of his worded bond. Turning to address the rest of the room, Jason said, "Either do as the man says or leave. Every wasted minute is another minute more of our people are being targeted."

That seemed to snap everyone out of their stupor. One by one everyone in the room, Annabeth included, rattled off the oath. The sound of thunder rumbled as though a particularly bad storm was raging overhead. With the last crash of thunder Percy nodded, then had another brief whispered conversation with the person next to him. Jason could not see them, but he got the impression that Percy was trying to convince them of something. After a few moments, Percy smiled and nodded and pat the arm of the person they could not see.

Turning back to collection of demigods Percy said, "As most of you know human and animals are prone to genetic modification and mutation. Red hair for instance, is a genetic mutation. However, over the course of human history there have been instances where humans have genetically mutated to have…other…qualities. Telekinesis, for example. In simple terms, some people are born with superpowers."

Annabeth raised a brow, "Given the world we live in now, it hardly seems like that is much of a revelation."

Percy just shrugged noncommittally, "I agree, but the rest of the world doesn't. Mutants have faced discrimination and alienation for centuries. World governments don't want people knowing that there are superpowers entities out there not tied to governmental institutions."

"I assume that this means all of our dead half-bloods were mutants?" asked Jason, trying to stay on task.

"Exactly correct. Xavier's School is a refuge for mutants. All of the missing kids were at one point or another, students at the school." agreed Percy. He tapped out a few command strokes on a tablet and Jason's phone beeped in his pocket. He reached down and checked it, seeing an email from Percy he opened it. Inside he found two full portfolios on a pair of a students. The first was a young boy, Tristan McAllistor. He was seventeen, Caucasian, and the son of Venus. Jason recognized him. The young man had just been joining the legion as he was exiting. He had been promising, a talented swordsman and burgeoning tactician. His mutation allowed him to increase the density of his body mass at will. Essentially, he could make himself heavier or lighter at will. He had been missing over a little over a week. He'd last been seen in the San Francisco area, supposedly he had been visiting relatives but had missed his check-in with the school.

The other file was on Patricia Slater, a seventeen year old Caucasian daughter of Apollo. Apparently Percy had brought her to the school himself when he was just entering his field work. She had a rather tame mutation that allowed her to change the color of her hair. She had missed her check-ins while taking a trip to Atlantic City. She had only been missing for five days but it was enough to consider her as abducted.

"Obviously," said Percy, drawing Jason's attention away from the files, "Given the proximities of the victims, I'll be taking a team and investigating Patti's last known locations in New Jersey. You will be investigating McAllistor and San Francisco. You should have all the information we have on where he had been going and what he had been doing as well as the car he had been driving. I have a couple of my people coming into town, they should be able to help you track him down. I should warn you that they may be employing some rather…unconventional methods to aid in your investigation."

Jason raised a curious brow, "Unconventional how?" he asked,

"As this investigation is officially off the books, I'm sending some of the professors from Xavier's school. They have skills that will help you stay on top of this while the trails are hopefully still warm. Like I said, this isn't officially sanctioned so if you find anything, and I mean anything. You run with it. If you have to break down doors, and bust some skulls I expect you to do just that." Jason felt grim satisfaction wash over him at Percy's words. Not being tied up by legal red tape, while perhaps morally and legally unethical, would make his life considerably easier. "Anything else?" Jason asked as he continued to look over the file notes on McAllistor,

"Yes. if you find the kid, call it in. No cowboy shit. This isn't the war, and these aren't your typical monsters. We don't know exactly who or what we're facing and I'm not going to be responsible for you getting yourself killed, because you ran headfirst and halfcocked into a situation you're not prepared for."

Indignation rose in Jason like a wave, "I've fought just as much as you have." he said hotly, "Are you really insinuating that-"

"You have fought monster's and demigods," Percy interrupted "I know for a fact that in the three years of active service, you have yet to actually discharge your weapon on anyone in the line of duty." Percy sounded genuinely like he was trying to placate his friend, "This has nothing to do with your skills as a warrior and everything to do with the fact that you have not been trained for the type of scenario we are facing. We could be looking at rogue paramilitary types, mutants, potentially even other demigods. The fact of the matter is that we simply have no idea what we are looking at just yet." Percy's eyes clouded over for a second, like he was lost in memory, "Besides, you were the one who said that you weren't going to needlessly risk your life here. You got a kid Jason. That makes you one hundred percent not expendable. Be smart, and if you find anything. Call. It. In."

For a minute both sides of the call were silent, the parties just continually staring at one another. Before the silence could get any more awkward Percy spoke, his voice was more subdued now. Sorrowful. "Listen, guys. I just…I just wanted to apologize. You know, for the way things ended. I was…I was just so mad. It hurt you know? If one of you had been taken, I don't think I could have just sat back and done nothing and then when Grover told me that our parents had told you not to do anything…it stung you know? And before you say anything just know that I would never expect anything like that from one of you. Breaking me out would have been tantamount to living the rest of your life on the run. Having to look over your shoulder worrying that because you had rescued me, you would never live a normal life. I would never ask that of any of you, but it still hurt. It hurt that none of you came to visit. That none of you offered any support. It just hurt. I'm not saying that I'm in the right because…because I know that I'm not. I shouldn't have just disappeared on you. Shouldn't have never called or messaged or anything like that. I just…I don't know. I'm not so good at these things. But…Yeah, I just wanted to get it out there."

The room had been stunned, that was certainly not what they were expecting. Jason had no way of responding to the apology. In his opinion, Percy had literally nothing to apologize for. He was right, they had all but abandoned him. Left him to rot in a cell by himself, no hope, no support, nothing. It had killed him inside. But Jason was a soldier, he was a Roman. He bled order, and he bled discipline. No matter how much wanted to protest, and act in his own manner, he would not have been able to make himself break rank and disobey a direct order from Olympus. Much less his own father. And that was what honestly made it all hurt that much more. Because he knew, like everyone else in the room knew, that Percy was right. That if the situation had been reversed, Percy would have moved Olympus itself to see any one of them safe and home again. Looking around the room, Jason realized that his own thoughts were being matched by everyone else. Annabeth most of all. Her face was hidden behind her long blonde hair and her hands were clenched so tight that Jason saw a trickle of blood seep down her palm.

"Annabeth." Percy said, his voice just above a whisper, and the woman's face shot up to the screen, her eyes red with tears, anger, sadness, and more emotion than Jason had seen in her in a long time, "Wise girl." Percy said again, "I'm so sorry for how things ended between us. It wasn't fair of me to ask you to leave. It wasn't fair of me to ask you to forsake your dreams and ambitions for my sake. It was incredibly selfish of me. Just know that I only have ever wanted the best for you. I still do. I still love you; always will I suspect. It's one of those things you can't just turn off." Beside him, he almost thought he heard Piper laugh, "But what you said to me, it was uncalled for, it was beyond hurtful. Still, I wanted to thank you."

Annabeth's teary eyes blinked in confusion, "What?" she rasped out.

Percy just smiled sadly, "I said I wanted to thank you. You were the push I needed to get my life on the track I think that it was always meant to be on. I'll never be proud of how I handled things, of how I caused such a divide between my best friends. But without you giving me the kick in the ass that I needed, I wouldn't be where I am today." Percy smiled and looked off screen at someone, they all saw as a dark hand rubbed at his shoulder. A woman maybe? Maybe Percy truly had moved on. Turning his attention back to the mist Percy continued, "And I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Hopefully I'll see you all again soon." and with that, Percy brushed his hand over the mist, and the call ended.

Nobody in the room moved, Jason didn't think anyone was even breathing. That is, until Leo opened his fat mouth.

"So…I just wanna say I called it. He is TOTALLY a spy."

BREAK

They found her car. They tracked the charges on her debit card to a parking garage just off the boardwalk. Percy watched as Logan sniffed, literally sniffed around the SUV. "No matter how many times I see him do this…it's still weird." he muttered, he hadn't really meant for Ororo to hear him but she laughed anyway.

"I do not see the problem with it?" she chuckled, but her laughter told Percy that she knew exactly what he meant.

Looking at her skeptically he said, "It's a grown ass man, on all fours, smelling the inside of a teenage girl's car. Under different circumstances this is grounds for an arrest and a trip to pedophiles anonymous."

Logan growled in response, breaking a window he unlocked the car and climbed in, "Shut it water boy. I don't see you doing anything to help."

Percy snorted, "That's because I'm not a glorified blood hound. Now hurry up 'Ol Red, clock's ticking."

Logan just growled in response but continued his search. "Do you think Scott and Jean have had any success with your friend?" Ororo asked, turning the conversation away from an increasingly agitated Wolverine.

Percy nodded, "Jason sent me a text half an hour ago. They talked to Tristan's Uncle in San Francisco. They got a make and model on the car and found that it was impounded a few days ago. They're going to the scene now."

Percy had been reluctant at first to include the mutants in his investigation. He was letting too many people in on the job but right now he didn't have too much of a choice. Not when they had two different kids, literally on opposite ends of the country, that were both missing. Was it possible that all of this was just a simple overreaction? That both Tristan and Patty had simply forgotten to check in? Of course it was a possibility, but it was slim. But that wasn't what was worrying Percy at the moment. It was the increasing likelihood that there was not a centralized holding location for the missing demigods. The fact that two had been taken at roughly the same time and at opposite ends of the country told Percy that there were likely multiple facilities housing the captured demigods.

And all of that was playing second fiddle to Percy at the moment, his greatest concern was getting Patty back. He had been a rookie agent when they had met. He had been coming home from an assignment in Northern Alberta-somebody had been trying to create superheroes but when Percy had arrived the entire facility had already been destroyed-when he helped her fend off a pack of cyclops. She had been young at the time, barely even eleven. He had road tripped the girl halfway across the country, fighting the entire time. They had just been crossing state lines into New York when they were jumped by a large pack of hellhounds, with the damned Minotaur leading the charge. It hadn't taken long for Percy to realize that his presence hadn't done much to ensure the girls safety, in fact, he was pretty sure it had only endangered her more. A point that had been proven when she nearly got gored by the bull hybrid. Percy, sleep deprived and battle weary from virtually no sleep and constant battle and travel, had been sloppy. It had only been the timely intervention of Colossus, Storm, and Wolverine that Percy and Patty had lived at all. As such, Percy was closest to Patty out of almost everyone else at mansion, Jean and perhaps Ororo aside. And while she certainly had parental figures in the other professors at Xavier's school, she looked up and adored Percy above everyone else. Percy felt equally connected to the girl. Hard not to when you spend weeks surviving on the run together. He had to get her back. Had to protect her.

As though sensing his thoughts, Ororo placed a calming hand on his shoulder, turning to look at the woman, she smiled reassuringly. She didn't say anything, because she didn't need to. The look she gave him said what words failed to. A surge of…something, flooded through Percy. It wasn't hope, but more like determination to save the girl he thought of as family. Giving Ororo a shaky smile of his own, Percy tried to push his own exhaustion to the back of his mind. Luckily, it was at that moment that Logan must have found something,

"I think I got her," came his gruff voice from somewhere in the SUV.

"Where?" Percy demanded, as Logan climbed out of the car. The gruff man shook his head to the left.

"Northeast." he said simply,

Percy nodded, "Can you continue to track her while we're moving?" he asked

Logan grunted, "Probably. Don't think I can in the jet though, will need to use a car. Got one of those tucked away somewhere special kid?" he asked.

In response, Percy just lifted a key fob from his pocket. Double clicking a button on the remote, a car chirped to life somewhere behind him.

"You know," Ororo said, a sardonic grin on her face, "The more I work with you Percy, the more accustomed I get to your little parlor tricks."

Percy didn't say anything, he was already walking towards the vehicle. "I'll drive, Logan you take shotgun. Ororo, call Jean and let her know what we've found, get a sitrep from them too."

Ororo had fallen into step directly behind him and asked, "I believe now would be a good time to see about calling in some of your friends Perseus."

Percy just nodded his agreement. He had been playing around with the idea of calling in the team for the actual takedown. He didn't want to take any chances. The only problem with that was neither Nat nor Steve were answering his texts. While it might have been expected if they were on deployment, Percy knew for a fact that they had just returned from a mission from somewhere in the Indian Ocean. It was odd. Maybe not so much from Nat, she had a bad habit of ghosting him, but Steve was almost always prompt in returning messages. He considered calling in Stark, but the only problem with that was he was not about to bring in another sledgehammer for a job like this one. While Stark's tech would be incredibly useful, something like this required a modicum of conspicuousness. And there was literally nothing conspicuous about Tony Stark. That left Barton, Banner, and Thor. Percy had absolutely no way of getting a hold of Thor. Percy was pretty sure that the man was off world at the moment, and Banner could be harder to find than Carmen Sandiego. And Clint was in the process of retiring. With the exception of the odd Avengers tasked mission, Clint was spending the entirety of his time at the farm with his wife and kids. As he should. Percy didn't think he knew many more people who deserved their quiet retirement more than Clint did and Percy would be damned if he was the one to call Clint back in as he was trying to get out.

Taking out his phone as he got into the driver's seat, he decided to try Nat one more time. As he hit call and pulled the phone up to his ear, a series of painfully loud 'dings' forced him to yank the phone away from his ear. As he put the phone back up, he heard, "We're sorry, the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected. Goodbye." He narrowed his eyes in confusion as a knot began to form in the pit of his stomach. There weren't many reasons that Nat would disconnect her phone and none of them were good. Putting that phone down, Percy pulled out an older looking model from the glovebox. Powering the phone on, Percy pulled up a dating app.

Ororo, who had been watching Percy from the backseat asked, "Percy, as much as I can appreciate your attempts to move on from Carol. I do not believe that now is the time."

But Percy just ignored her. Checking the messages page on the app he saw that he had no new messages. Well that could be either good or bad, Percy thought to himself. Either whatever mess that Natasha had gotten herself into wasn't bad enough that she needed his backup. Or she didn't have access to a phone she felt was secure enough to attempt to contact him. Percy powered off the older phone and glanced into the backseat.

Meeting Ororo's eyes he said, "I can't get ahold of Widow or Cap, Widow's phone has been disconnected and Cap isn't getting back to me. I just checked our fallback and Widow hasn't tried to get a hold of me there either." Percy turned the ignition and swung the car around so that he was heading Northeast. "Could mean their busy, could mean something else. Either way, assume that we will not be having Avengers support on this one. When we find Patty, it'll be on us and whatever support the X-Men can and are willing to provide."

Neither Ororo or Logan had anything to say to that so instead they opted for silence. The stillness of the car only broken by the occasional grunted direction by Logan, and a subdued conversation that Ororo was having over the phone. After a few minutes Percy heard Ororo end the call, Percy had been too engrossed in his own thoughts and worries to have processed to whom she had been talking to and about what. Seemingly knowing that Percy hadn't been listening, Ororo said, "That was Jean, we caught a break. Someone saw Tristan get grabbed. Whoever the attackers were didn't get him cleanly. Tristan managed to fight back. Put one of them down and drew a hell of a lot of attention. Apparently, Jean and her group have a good lead heading north into British Columbia."

"Why in the hell are they heading up into Canada" Percy muttered to himself as he changed lanes to take the next exit.

"The further north you get, the more the Canadian wilderness becomes like Siberia." answered Logan, "It'd be the perfect place to hide something, or someone, that you didn't want found."

Percy grunted in acknowledgment. "Any where we could be headed?" he asked,

Logan took a few seconds to answer as he processed his thoughts. "I'd be guessing somewhere remote. Kids like you draw a lot of attention. More so when they have added abilities on top of it. Based on the direction we're going and the new information that Ororo provided…I have some ideas."

Percy waited for the man to expound on the statement, but when it became clear he wouldn't, Percy asked, "Care to elaborate there Sherlock?"

Logan just shook his head. "Don't want to commit myself or you to anything just yet. Not until I get a better idea of where exactly we could be heading." After a few seconds he added, "Just to be safe though…you have your passport handy?"

That couldn't bode well.


	11. Hells Bells

It would take some time, but eventually Jason would willingly admit that maybe Percy had point about the whole, "not being trained for this" thing he'd been preaching about. Eventually Jason would be able to admit that this foolhardy and ill-thought out plan to just storm the facility, guns blazing, was a monumentally stupid idea. Eventually, Jason would be able to admit that while he was very well trained to fight monsters, to fight single gunmen, to take out common criminals; heavily armed, paramilitary forces armed with assault rifles and anti-personnel weapons were a bit out of his wheelhouse.

Now however, was not the time. Not when he was hunched behind a collapsed concrete pillar, a badly bleeding wound in his right arm, and what was likely a pretty bad concussion. Jason jerked back as another burst of fire attempt to pierce through his makeshift barricade.

He wasn't sure what had driven him to just charge in, and throw caution and warnings to the wind. Ok, maybe that wasn't exactly true. Maybe he knew exactly why he had decided to pull "cowboy bullshit" as Percy had called it.

Jason blamed his father.

Rightly so, after all, it had been pride that had driven Jason to attack. Pride that he was every bit the warrior as Percy. That Percy had no reason to bench him. It was stupid and petty, but Jason was a Roman at heart. A warrior and soldier of the highest caliber. Being told to sit on the side-lines and let others do the fighting for him spat in the face of everything he had been trained to believe in. So, when they had traced the kidnappings to this location Jason had made his decision. He regretted that only part of his choice was because of a desire to see the immediate rescue of those captured. He regretted that he allowed that Scott guy to talk him to storming the facility, and he most certainly regretted getting shot in the gods damned arm!

Jason had a lot of regrets at the moment.

Shrinking down even further behind his makeshift barricade, Jason tried to shield himself as a red optic blast screamed through the air. It collided with the floor between two soldiers causing an explosion. The explosion, launched three different soldiers into the air. Taking the brief reprieve in oncoming fire to move Jason ran, hunched over to make himself as small as possible and positioned himself behind a support pillar. Quickly twisting around the pillar, he shot off three quick rounds. The first missed over the head of his intended target, but the next two struck home. The first caught the solider in the stomach. While it didn't pierce the body armor he was wearing it did cause him to hunch over in pain, allowing an opening for the second shot to catch him in the right eye. The man collapsed to the ground screaming, blood pooling from the injury.

Jason had to quickly duck back behind cover as incoming fire tore at the ground and framework surrounding him. Then as abruptly as the firing began, it stopped, the two soldiers that were firing at Jason were lifted up into the air and slammed harshly into a nearby wall, smears of blood followed their bodies as they fell limply to the ground.

'Jason' said Jean's voice in his head, and Jason had to keep himself from jumping where he stood. He still wasn't used to the telekinetic's powers. 'You have an opening. Keep advancing.' Not needing to be told twice, Jason moved again. Hopping over a pair of fallen soldiers he approached the end of the hallway. Peeking around the corner, he had to quickly step back as a burst of high-capacity rounds tore into where his head had been moments before. Down the hall the soldiers had established a mounted machine gun placement. The automatic weapon would tear through him and Scott like tissue and while Jean could likely deflect the bullets away from herself, Jason was in no mind to cosplay swiss cheese.

Reaching down into his essence, Jason called upon his own powers. Feeling the familiar tingle of his godly blood, he summoned forth his father's domain. Lightning began dancing and sparking down along his right arm. When he felt he had summoned enough of the energy, Jason rolled out from cover and took a knee in the open hallway. Faster than any human could react, a bolt of lightning launched from his fingertips and shot down the length of the hall. It connected with the machine gun nest, before detonating with a crash of thunder. Soldiers and weapons were sent scattering. As the weapons emplacements blew apart, parts bits and pieces were shot through the air, effectively turning the machine gun into an electrically charged hand grenade. The shrapnel tore through the defending soldiers as limbs were torn off and blood began to seep down the hall.

Jason was having a hard time hearing. Between the guns, the blaring of the facility alarms, and the blood rushing to his ears, little sound was making it to him. However, over the cacophony of noises Jason still heard the automated voice announce, "Cell blocks opening. Cell blocks opening. Authorized use of Weapon X projects in play. Authorized use of Weapon X projects in play."

Jason heard Jean gasp in his head. 'I take it that you know what that means?' Jason thought. He wasn't sure why he thought that Jean could hear him if he thought at her, but he assumed that if she could speak to him, then the opposite could probably be true as well.

'Yes' Said Jean, her voice was sad, and tinged with a hint of fear. 'It was the program that made Logan who he is today. If they have been experimenting on mutant demigods…' Jean didn't need to finish her thought. Jason understood the implications. While he hadn't actually met this Logan guy, clearly whatever this Weapon X thing was meant that he was going to be having more problems.

Jason barely had time to finish reloading his pistol before he was utterly blindsided. He was thrown painfully into the nearby wall. He was barely able to fully recover before he had to duck out of the way as six-inch-long razors scratched at where he had been attempting to recover. Ducking under another swipe, Jason spun, and put as much strength as he could into a haymaker that found purchase on the temple of his attacker. The punch should have been more than enough to shatter the skull of his assailant, however what Jason punched felt less like a human skull, and more like solid steel. Gasping in pain, Jason reeled back, one hand reaching out to grasp at his other, which felt like he might have broken it. While the punch had hurt, it had done its job. The attacker clattered to the ground, and skid to a stop several feet away.

Jason finally got a good look at who was trying to kill him. She was a woman, late twenties or early thirties with dark black hair pulled up into a tight bun. She was wearing an all black leather catsuit, with gold and red highlights streaking across the shoulders and down her midsection. However what was currently holding Jason's attention was not the woman's attire, but her nails. Her nails were as long as knives, and sharper than any blade he had ever wielded. Growling, the woman stood up, cracking her neck as she did so.

She didn't give Jason any more time to recover as she charged. Jason tried to duck out of the way but the woman's claws managed to graze him across his left bicep. White hot pain erupted from the place the blades had touched and Jason saw stars. With both arms now bleeding rather badly, Jason knew tried to backpedal in order to gain some distance. However the woman was onto him and charged the second he attempted to put space between them. He dodged out of the way of the first two swipes but was caught in the midsection as the woman spun in kicked him hard in the ribs. Landing hard on the floor, Jason rolled, coming to a stop a few feet down the hall. Even as he looked up, struggling to breathe, the woman was pressing him once more. With a shaky hand, he raised his gun, still miraculously in his grip, and fired off several shots. Two missed but three found their mark. One caught her in the right leg which buckled, causing the woman to fall to her own knee. The other two hit in the right shoulder and square between the eyes. For a brief, miraculous moment, Jason thought he had won.

Then,

"You've got to shitting me." he muttered.

The wounds his bullets had caused began to heal over themselves. Closing up right before his eyes. However, just before the would on her shoulder closed up, something glinted. He almost thought that it was a trick of the light. But where he had thought there should have been bone, he had seen what looked like a metallic substance. His eyes tracked the woman's nails and an idea struck him. Well, worst case scenario then this would not work and he was dead anyways. Reaching inside once more, Jason called upon his essence. Like before, static began jumping across his skin and his body became supercharged. The woman, who had been advancing, stopped in her tracks, a look of worry flashing over her eyes. She tried to quickly get over her hesitation but her moment of indecision cost her dearly. The pause had given Jason just enough time to gather the necessary energy, slamming his open palm into the ground, Jason summons one of the largest thunderbolts he had ever created, willing it to strike the ground where the woman would be charging. Shooting up from the ground, the concrete floor tore apart as the electrical energy exploded upwards.

The woman screamed as Jason's attack struck her. Her body began to flash and Jason swore that he could actually see the outline of her skeleton flash underneath her skin. That was before Jason had to shield his eyes as the light of the attack was nearly blinding. The woman's screaming intensified as her metal skeleton acted as a lightning rod, funneling all of the electricity through her body and frying her from the inside out. The attack only lasted for a few seconds but when Jason opened his eyes once again, the woman's once alabaster skin was singed and scorched, as though she had been roasted alive. The smell of burnt and still burning flesh wafted through the now still halfway, as sparks of electricity danced across the woman's charred skin. Her hair, which had once lain flat against her scalp, was now standing at odd angles and a few strands had actually caught fire and were burning.

Jason collapsed against a nearby wall, gasping for air. It had been years since he had needed to use his powers like that, and he was painfully out of practice. Peacetime had not been kind to his skills. As the adrenaline rush began to fade away slightly, he became more acutely aware of the searing pain in both of his arms. With a shaky hand, he reached into his pocket and withdrew a small package of what looked like gummy bears. Ripping the package with his teeth, Jason inhaled two small pieces of Ambrosia. Almost immediately, Jason felt the pain in his arms begin to dissipate, as his fatigue faded away. Taking a few calming breaths, Jason attempted to stand. He got shakily to his feet as the hallway behind him was suddenly bathed in a pale red glow. Following which was another explosion and series of screams.

In his mind Jason heard Jean once more, 'Jason, we are outnumbered down here, please hurry if you can!' Sparing one last glance at his fallen opponent, Jason shook himself and took off at a dash down the hall.

"Really hope Percy is having a better time than we are right now."

 **BREAK**

"Contact left! Eight o'clock high! Storm! Knock out that tower!"

A bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and blew apart the guard tower firing down Percy's position. The second the sky lit up from Storm's attack Percy was already moving. He vaulted over the earthen construct he had created and was sprinting towards the remaining tower. Diving forward into a roll, he willed a second earthen wall to life and came to a stop with his back to the wall. Focusing on the air around him, Percy came to a kneeling position and turned to face the legs of the tower. With his hands extended outward, Percy froze the air around the two nearest tower legs. The legs froze to below absolute zero, hopping over the earth wall Percy constructed a water whip and broke the two legs.

"Timber!" He yelled over the din, and the tower fell away from Percy. The soldiers fell over the guard rail and tumbled over thirty feet to the ground below. One fell on his head snapping his neck and the other landed on her back, shattering it completely.

Pressing a finger to his ear, "Any word on Wolverine?" Percy asked as he ran up to the broken doorway, rushing through Percy was greeted by a scene out of a horror movie. Dead and dismembered bodies littered the floor as blood pooled and congealed in the previously pristine hallway.

"Negative," was Storm's reply, "He is in a rage. There is little that will be able to stop in now."

"Dammit." Percy cursed as he dashed down the hall. Everything had gone to hell far too quickly. Logan hadn't told him anything, only that the scent was leading north until they were well into central Quebec. Patty's scent had led them to a seemingly isolated portion of the Canadian wilderness. However nearly fifteen miles into the unknown reaches they ran into a border marking. At Logan's signal the group had gotten out and continued for another three miles on foot until they were overlooking a military outpost. Percy had only just begun formulating a plan to scout the outpost and create an attack strategy when Logan had suddenly and seemingly without provocation flown into a blind rage.

The man had simply rushed straight through the oncoming hail of bullets and torn straight into the compound. While Percy and Logan were not the best of friend's he did know enough about the man to know that whatever had triggered him about this place, meant that nothing good laid on the inside. He could only speculate and that was not something Percy either the time nor willingness to do at the moment. At that moment, all Percy cared about was tracking down Patty, getting her out safely, and hoping that Logan's healing factor would be enough to keep him alive long enough to either calm down, or take down the entirety of the outpost.

"Confirmed." Percy said into his mic as he raced through the bloodied and bullet scarred hallways. "Stay topside and provide covering fire. Secure the perimeter and call in the Blackbird for ExFil. I'll try and track down the detention center. Once I have Patty and whatever other survivors I can secure, we'll regroup on you outside."

"Understood." said Storm, all business. This was why Percy enjoyed working with the other woman. She was a consummate professional. She didn't waste any time asking pointless questions she already knew the answer to.

Coming to a break in the hallway Percy stopped. The lanes were split, opening up into two separate pathways, one was still intact. The other, was scratched with claw marks and bullet scoring. The sounds of screaming and gunfire, audible even over the din of the security alarms, were ringing from down the hallway. Closing his eyes, Percy tried to concentrate on the world around him. Taking in a deep breath, he opened his eyes, and the once bright sea-green orbs were tinged with an omniscient otherworldly glow. By extending his will into the water and sewage systems of the building, as well as the water present in human bodies, Percy could effectively see what others could not. It was not x-ray vision per say, but he could somewhat see through walls and determine the locations of any humans still in the building. The hallway the Wolverine had torn apart was filled with the forms of multiple humans, from the stances of their bodies as well as the positions they were taking, Percy could tell that they were all paramilitary forces. Looking down the other hallway, Percy scanned, there were bodies in that hallway as well. Again, from the positioning of the bodies and the stances they were in, Percy could tell that they were security forces taking up defensive positions and creating chokepoints and ambush sights. However that was not all he was seeing. Looking down, Percy saw a sub-basement to the facility, as well as rows of people, lined almost uniformly every ten feet. Some were sitting, and others were standing, hands and faces pressed up against something solid.

That was most likely the detention area.

That was most likely where Patty was being held.

Scowling as righteous fury burned in his breast, Percy summoned a sword made of ice into his hand and took off at a gallop down the untouched hallway.

Scanning his surroundings as he rounded a corner, Percy saw the outlines of several soldiers lying in wait down the next hall. Feeding his will into the floor in front of him, Percy shot a beam of ice into the floor. The floor beneath his boots froze solid, and cold air began to permeate up from the ground, invading Percy's senses. Cries and shouts of surprise arose from the ambush site, as the many of the ambushers lost their footing on the suddenly slippery floors. There was the sound of crashing and cursing as the soldiers fell to the ground, their legs tripped up and out from under them. The hallway, lit only by the flashing red lights of the emergency security beacons, was brought to life by sudden muzzle flashes. The surprise fall had caused several of the soldiers to lose control of their trigger discipline and fire sporadically into the air. Using his momentum from the run, Percy spun and landed in a controlled fall to the floor. The speed from Percy's dash carried him forward into the killbox. As Percy slid across the ground, he brought both of his hands up and pointed them at either side of his body. Focusing his breathing, Percy concentrated the layer of ice he had created on the floor.

Just as Percy came across the killbox, the few soldiers who had regained some composure began to open fire. However, because of the position of Percy slide, and the unsteadiness of their firing positions, all of the soldiers missed their mark entirely.

Percy didn't miss.

Feeling a chill in his fingertips as he controlled the ice, Percy brought his hands upward, and spike and stalactites formed underneath the soldiers. The squelching of bodies being ripped apart broke through the din as screams of utter terror and agony assaulted Percy's hearing. When Percy came to a stop at the opposite end of the hall. All of the enemy soldiers were either dead or dying.

Percy felt the familiar tingle in stomach; the early stages of queasiness. Percy did not enjoy killing. Especially in such a gruesome way. He was good at it, terrific even, and he felt no real remorse for taking the lives of those who would so easily ruin the lives of others. But a lack of remorse did not mean a lack of humanity. It didn't matter who Percy killed, or how horrific their deeds may be. Taking a life was never easy for the him. There was simply something profane with taking a life. For removing the human coil. And a small part of him hated that he was so good at taking a life. That he was so good at his job. He was meant to be a protector, a guardian, and maybe it was the part of him that was still the scared twelve-year-old who had just lost his mother, but Percy had never thought that the job of a true hero was to kill. But Percy was also a pragmatist, he knew that sometimes there were simply no other options, that sometimes to save a thousand, you had to kill a hundred.

Percy knew that he would be hearing the screams of pain and terror in his nightmares for a while to come. He would add it to his list. For the knowledge of his dark deeds was his burden to bear for a safer world.

A safer world for his mother. For Paul. For his sister.

For Patty.

Burying his feelings Percy pressed onwards. The staircase was dead ahead, and so was Patty.

 **BREAK**

With a grunt of exertion, Jason tackled the remaining soldier, picking him up around the legs and driving the bastard as hard as he could through the remaining wall and crashing hard to the ground. Jason felt the soldier go limp from underneath him and he rolled off, breathing heavily on the cold ground.

"Now is not the time for a break legionnaire." he muttered to himself and groggily got to his feet. Jason had not felt this exhausted in a very long time. The fighting today had been every bit as grueling and physically and mentally demanding as the last war. For the umpteenth time he cursed Scott Summers and himself to deepest pits of tartarus for this stupid attack.

'You're not the only one' was Jean's poignant thought in his mind.

Ignoring the statement, Jason tried to focus on the task at hand, 'How close are we to the kids?' he thought back. He couldn't see a damn thing, the lower they had gotten and the deeper they had progressed, the fewer sirens and security lights they had seen. Now Jason was in a pitch-black room, only slightly illuminated by the discarded flashlights of the downed men behind him.

'This is it.' was Jean's reply as he felt rather than saw he float up next to him.

'Anything we can do about the lights?' he asked,

Instead of answering, Jean reached into the large utility belt attached her to jumpsuit, pulling out a road flare she lit it, and gently hovered the light source a few feet in front of them. The red glow of the flare lit up a small portion of the hallway they were in. On either side of the narrow hallway were rows and rows of small cells. They were heavily fortified with large concrete walls, and doorways only small enough from the occupants to literally crawl out of. It was then that the ringing in Jason's ears finally subsided enough to hear clearly. The noises were muffled, but just loud enough to make out in the otherwise silent room.

"Help us!"

"Get me out of here!"

"Please! I want to go home"

"I want my Papa!"

Without waiting for a signal from Jean, Jason ran forward, newfound strength and purpose filling his being at the cries for help.

'I just got word from Scott,' came Jean's voice in Jason's head, 'Rogue, another one of ours just arrived. She and Scott are finishing up with the rest of the soldiers.'

Jason didn't say anything to that. Too busy approaching the first of the cell doors. Gripping tightly on the handle, he tried to pry open the door, only to find that it was locked. "Screw it" he said, and grabbed onto both sides of the door. With a roar and a mighty pull, Jason ripped the door from its hinges and threw it to the ground. Inside the cell was a small girl. No older than seven or eight years old. She was huddled against the far wall, shaking so violently Jason might have thought she was having a seizure. A faint red glow behind him lit up his own features as he slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out his badge.

"It's ok sweetheart," he said soothingly, the father in him broken-hearted as visions of his own daughter filled his thoughts, "I'm a police-man. I'm here to take you home."

 **BREAK**

Compared to the rest of the building, the detention center was oddly quiet. No blaring alarms, no hordes of enemy soldiers. Nothing. Just Percy's own heavy breathing, and the steady beating of his own heart in his ears. His eyes were still attuned to the natural water in the building, giving him the layout for the room. Of the sixteen cells in the hall, only four were full, but he could clearly make out the form of what looked like a teenage girl, of about Patty's height and weight huddled on a small cot in the last cell on the opposite end of the hall.

Percy stopped however, before he could make a mad dash for the girl he was there to save. Standing in the shadows of the darkened hallway was a figure. He was shorter than Percy by about a head. Athletic in build and stood with a quiet confidence that only a man sure of his talents and abilities possessed. Suddenly, the darkened hallway was illuminated with light and Percy had to cut the power to his eyes in order to effectively see in the brightly lit detention center.

He now had a much clearer look of the man in front of him. He had dark skin, and well kept, long black hair that curled down to his shoulders. He was handsome in appearance and his jaw was covered in a finely trimmed and maintained beard. He was dressed in desert camp fatigues and a light flak-jacket, a far cry from the darkened greens and blacks of the uniformed men Percy had been fighting all morning.

The man sneered as he slowly approached Percy. "At last we meet. Perseus Jackson." His voice was low and smooth, with the hint of an accent that was familiar to Percy and yet not. Somewhere middle eastern most likely.

Percy didn't respond, he was focusing on the man's movements. Trying to gauge when or how he would attack.

"Are you not surprised that I know who you are کمی یونانی?" the man asked.

Percy raised a brow, "Yeah…I don't really speak Arabic. And I also don't really care."

The man hissed and spit on the ground, "I am no Arab." the stranger growled.

"Ok of all things to focus on…" Said Percy easily, but not really paying that much attention, he was too busy trying to determine the quickest way to incapacitate this guy. "Still doesn't change the fact that I don't speak…whatever the hell that was."

"It is Persian you زباله یونانی!"

"Really should have had Stark retro fit my comms with Jarvis' translation tech," Percy muttered to himself, then to the stranger he said, "You say that like it's supposed to mean something to me. But I have literally never met you before. Hell I don't even know your name."

"You may call me Rostam. Remember it. For when you are suffering in the fields of hell, you shall know it was me who was responsible."

"Damn man, did you get that straight out of the guidebook for cliché villain dialogue?" Percy asked but didn't get a response. Rostam launched himself at Percy, a pair of jeweled daggers materializing in his hands. Percy dodged out of the way of a pair of swipes. Thinking he saw an opening, he tried to throw a punch but his fist only connected with air as Rostam spun out of the way. Coming out of his spin Rostam kicked Percy, catching his square in the stomach. Percy doubled over, his eyes watering and stars dancing at the corners of his vision. That had not been a normal kick. Whoever this guy was, he a hell of a lot stronger than the other stooges that Percy had been dealing with.

Knowing he needed to put some distance between himself and the roided up Persian, Percy vapor travelled. Just as Percy's body dissolved into mist one of Rostam's knives swiped through the air Percy's neck and been occupying a moment earlier. Percy reappeared a few feet behind Rostam. As he was reappearing, Percy constructed a war hammer, with a mighty swing Percy caught Rostam flush in the back. Rostam screamed in pain as he was thrown down the hallway. Knowing that he now his opponent on the defensive, Percy pressed. Once again, he willed his body to dissolve and he vapor travelled into the air above Rostam's fallen form.

Rostam recovered far quicker than Percy anticipated though, and had rolled over onto his back. hefting one of the knives upward, Percy only managed to adjust enough to get his chest out of the way. As the knife embedded in Percy's shoulder, the war hammer in Percy's hand shifted and transformed. In its place was a knife of Percy's own. However instead of plunging it into Rostam's eye, Percy was stopped short. The knife in Percy's shoulder burned white hot. Percy grunted, and fought through the pain. He tried to force the knife down lower but his movements were impeded. Rostam then wrapped his legs around Percy's waist and rotated. Rostam reversed their positions so that he was now over top of Percy, his hand still clutching the hilt of the dagger in Percy's shoulder. With a yank, Rostam pulled out the knife and Percy screamed in pain, his water construct dissolving as his concentration was lost. Rostam tried to plunge the dagger back down into Percy's heart but Percy managed to fight through the pain quickly enough to bring his hands up to block the attack. His hands wrapped around the blade, slicing through skin and tissue as he did so. In spite of the pain Percy managed to keep the blade from plunging into his heart.

In an act born of desperation Percy redirect the attack back into his injured arm, as he did so he brought the crown of his head into direct contact with Rostam's jaw bone. There was a sickening crack as the bone shattered. Rostam fell to the ground, clutching at his shattered jaw. Taking advantage of the reprieve, Percy rolled back, getting shakily to his feet. With one shaking hand, he checked on the knife in his arm. Realizing the knife was embedded directly in his brachial artery, Percy left the knife where it was for the moment. He couldn't remove the knife in the middle of the fight, otherwise he would risk severing the artery and would bleed out on the floor.

Rostam got to his feet unsteadily, blood dripping down from his broken jaw as a tooth fell loose onto the ground.

"Gods stay down dammit." Percy grunted. Rostam ignored him and charged sluggishly at Percy. He had gathered his spare knife and swung sloppily at Percy. With one arm critically wounded, Percy's counter attacks were severely limited. Percy dodged away from a series of poorly aimed swipes of the knife. Fighting through the pain in his arm Percy delivered two staggering hooks to the temple of his opponent. Reversing his grip on the knife, Rostam tried to swing upward, Percy batted the attack away with one arm. Bringing his knee up, he connected with Rostam's sternum. Then with his free arm raised above Rostam's head, he brought his elbow down. There was a crunch as Percy's elbow broke through the Persian's cranium. Rostam slumped, his knife clattering uselessly to floor. Breathing heavily, and exhausted from a debilitating lack of sleep, overwhelming pain, and over exertion of his own powers, Percy collapsed under Rostam's weight. The pair fell to the floor. With a grunt, Percy pushed Rostam's broken body off of his own and took in a series of deep, shuttering breaths.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Percy tried to catch his breath as the pain in his arm grew to a fever pitch. With a shaky hand he reached into the zippered pocket at his thigh. Withdrawing a bag of Ambrosia and an emergency water bottle, Percy popped three Ambrosia cakes into his mouth. Just as the familiar taste of his mother's cookies filled his taste buds, Percy twisted the cap off of the water bottle and grabbed the knife by the hilt. In a swift stroke, he pulled it out and immediately began pouring the contents of the bottle over the wound in his arm. Normally he would simply drink it and allow his body to heal naturally, but the damage was bad enough that he needed to address the injury immediately. As he felt the skin and tissue and muscle stitch itself back together, Percy began chugging the rest of the contents of the bottle, excess water dribbling down his mouth and chin as he drank.

With a satisfied moan he threw the bottle to the side. He was about to sit up but was stopped by the sound of chuckling. Looking to his right, he saw that Rostam was looking directly at him. Blood dribbling down his mouth and nose. Percy gaped, how in the hell was this bastard still kicking after all of that?

Even more shocking, the man started to speak. "Y-you…may have killed me…son of Poseidon…but there are more….just like me. W-we…are waiting…we…a-are watching. A-and w-when you l-least expect it. W-we….we w-will….kill you. F-for we…are…Darius…." and then, the light went out from his eyes, and Rostam passed from this existence.

Percy's brain was swimming, what the hell was Darius? Who, was Darius? Where they the ones behind the kidnappings, and if they were, then what did they want? He so many questions, and no where near enough answers to readily satisfy him. However, before Percy had time to speculate more on what he had been told, there was loud "BAMF" and the chamber was filled with a sulfuric smell.

"Guten tag mein freund" came the heavily accented voice of Kurt Wagner, as his smiling blue face appeared above Percy. "Gröss Gott!" He exclaimed as he looked between Percy and the fallen soldier, "Du bist hurt mein freund. Ve must be getting you help!" Kurt reached down and attempted to pull Percy to his feet. Percy waved him off and stood on his own, panting as he put a hand to his shoulder to check on the wound, which had sealed up nicely, Percy looked at the demon-like man.

"I'm fine. Been through worse." Turning to look down the hallway, Percy said, "The hostages are the priority."

Kurt appeared conflicted for a moment, but seemed to come to the conclusion that Percy was going to be stubborn about it.

"Du are right mein freund. Ve must see to ze young ones first."

Percy nodded,

"Lets get these kids home."

BREAK

It was nearly an hour later when Percy and the recovery team had finished gathering the hostages and were reconvening, Percy had Bobby Drake go and gather his car from where they had dropped it, and he was now sitting on the back bumper, an IV hooked up to his arm. It was a fast and reliable way for him to heal as fast as possible. All of the missing kids that had not already been murdered had been recovered, Patty was huddled around a group of kids being inspected by Beast. She was shaking, and paler than normal, but otherwise looked no worse for wear. She caught him looking at her, and he gave her a small and reassuring smile. She smiled back hesitantly. Before turning her attention back to the medic.

The bumper of the car sank slightly as Logan sat down next to him. His uniform was torn, and bloodied, bullet holes lining nearly every inch of the man, but he otherwise looked fine.

"We're going to stick around for a while here. There's a lot we need to uncover, a lot we need to look into." He looked uncomfortable for a minute then said, his voice lower than normal, "I found samples of my blood in one of the labs. And a series of patient numbers. Must have been twenty-three of 'em in all. These bastards were using my blood and my mutation for something. I intend to find out what."

"Is that why you went ballistic on us?" Percy asked and Logan shook his head,

"No. This place, these people. They were the ones to make me who I am. They call themselves Weapon X. They've been trying to weaponize mutations for decades now. When I saw this place, it brought back a lot of bad memories. A lot of very dirty laundry. I lost control of myself. I'm sorry about that."

Percy just chuckled and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It happens. What matters is that we got the kids out in time. Any word yet from Jason?"

Logan grunted, but Percy could tell that he appreciated that Percy wasn't going to pry him for too many details. "Red called in a bit ago. Apparently, the boy scout made an executive decision to attack without backup." Percy didn't need to ask to know who Logan was referring to. Seeing the fury and indignation on Percy's face, Logan cut him off with a wave of the hand. "Relax kid, your friend is fine. A little banged up but nothing some bed rest and a few days off won't be able to fix.

"Next time I see Summers I'm going to break his nose with his own stupid visor." Percy growled in a passable imitation of Logan himself.

Logan just chuckled, "Gonna have to get in line kid. Apparently Red has been reading him the riot act. A little trouble in paradise for the lovebirds." Logan snickered, then turned serious, "You gonna stick around? I hear about what happened down there, sounds like something you need to be checking out."

Percy was about to respond that yes, he was going to be sticking around when a sudden ding distracted him. It came from the glove box of the car. Sitting up straight, Percy pulled the IV out of his arms as cleanly as he could and raced to the passenger seat. Pulling open the compartment, he pulled the older phone out and checked the screen One new message from the dating app.

A message from one Natalie. It read:

"Hey there handsome. Long time no speak. Sorry about being incommunicado. Work has been utter hell lately. My boss got laid off and now I'm out of a job. Could really use some company. Got a friend who's interested in having a little fun together. If you're interested, my friend is taking to a weekend gateway. I'll send the address. My friend is tall, blonde, and ex-army. Says they can give you a real workout. be there tomorrow by three pm if you think you're up for it."

What followed was an address for somewhere in Wheaton, New Jersey

Looking up from the phone, Percy raced back around the car, "Change of plans," he said hurriedly to Logan, "Finish up around here, I have somewhere I need to be and asap. I'll meet back up with you guys when I have a chance."

Logan didn't even question it. He had been around Percy more than enough to know that often Percy had to pull out quickly and without real warning. "Need backup?" he asked as he closed the trunk.

Percy shook his, "Don't know yet. I'll let you know. For now, focus on here and now." and without another word, Percy got behind the wheel of the car, started the engine, and quickly peeled away from the outpost.

The message on the dating app had been a warning.

Translation: Fury was dead. SHIELD has been compromised. Nat has a lead but requires more backup. Steve is with her but they might be in over their heads. ETA to target sight, t-minus thirteen hours.

SHIELD was compromised.

Fury was gone.

And Percy had a very long drive ahead of him.

 **Translations:**

کمی یونانی: little Greek

زباله یونانی: Greek Scum

 **AN: Holy buckets this was a big one. Thanks for the patience here but I needed to rewrite this a few times and also needed to get some on the Son of a Sailor plot out of my head before I could focus on rewriting this. This was a fun chapter to put together though. Even if I feel like the ending here was a bit rushed. Hope you guys enjoyed it, it lays the groundwork for future exciting stuff to come. But now, we ramp up into my favorite installment of the MCU. Thanks again for all of the love and support. Let me know what ya'll think so far, and have a whatever day.**

 **Love,**

 **LilDB**


	12. Evil Ways

"Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?"

Steve glanced over, "Nazi Germany," he then gestured toward her feet, "And we're borrowing, take your feet off the dash."

Reluctantly, she did as she was asked, a speculative look on her face. Steve liked to think that after over a year of working together he had a good read on the woman, at least enough to know that when she looked speculative, it was never a great thing.

"All right," she started, and Steve almost sighed because just by the teasing tone of her voice he knew that he would not enjoy whatever she was about to say. "I have a question for you, which you do not have to answer. I feel like, if you don't answer it though you're kind of answering it you know?"

It had been a very long, and very painful few days and quite frankly he was not in the mood for whatever this woman, that he was no longer certain he could really trust, was going to rib him for, so he interrupted her.

"What?" He snapped,

She had that smirk on her face, that annoying and highly distracting smirk, the kind she got just before she said something she knew was going to either embarrass him or get under his skin.

"Was that your first kiss since 1945?"

He almost smiled, almost. "That bad huh?"

She was quick to amend the statement, "I didn't say that."

"Well it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying."

"No I didn't. I was just wondering how much practice you've had."

"You don't need practice."

"Everybody needs practice"

He would deny it if asked, but he really did enjoy his verbal sparring with the spy, "It was not my first kiss since 1945. I'm 95, I'm not dead." He didn't need to look at her to know that she was still smirking at him,

"Nobody special though?"

He actually scoffed at that, "Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience."

Natasha waved it off easily enough, "Well that's alright, you just make something up."

"What like you?" he couldn't help but shoot back. And maybe he was still a little sore about the whole fiasco on the Lumerian Star. Maybe he was still uncertain if he was right in trusting this woman. And maybe he was more than a little sick of being led around like he was some sort of naive child.

"I don't know, the truth is a matter of circumstance. It isn't all things to all people, all the time. neither am I." She wasn't smirking anymore. Instead she looked, almost sad, like her smile was self-depreciating, like she knew what he had been thinking just moments before, like maybe she knew what was eating him up inside. She wasn't looking at him anymore, just staring off into space.

"That's a hard way to live." he said simply, because it was. Never being the same person day after day. Always crafting a new persona, a new mask, having a new mark. A person could get lost living like that.

"It's a good way not to die though." And in that one simple sentence, she had told him more about herself than she had in all the time that he had known her. She didn't play this game because she enjoyed it, but because it was all that she knew. It was how she had survived this long and it was the only way she knew how to keep surviving in a world where it was becoming increasingly more difficult to know who your friends were.

"You know, it's kind of hard to trust someone, when you don't know who that someone really is." He said, pulling his eyes away from the road long enough to give her a meaningful look. He needed her to know where he stood in all of this, why he was having so many misgivings about what was happening. He needed her, for once in her life, to be outright honest with him.

"Yeah." She agreed sadly, "Who do you want me to be?"

"How about a friend?" he asked, extending the olive branch. He needed her to know that he was going to make an effort, that he wanted to believe that she was the same woman he had fought with, the same woman he had saved the world with. He just needed…something.

She laughed, a sad and sardonic sound, "Well there's a chance you might be in the wrong business Rogers."

They left the conversation at that, and for a while they simply sat in silence. He was vaguely aware that she was doing something on her phone but he didn't pay much attention to it. Until her voice broke through the silence.

"I let Jackson know what's going on. He'll meet us at there."

"You did what?" Steve asked, startled.

"Jackson. Percy Jackson. You know, son of a god, manipulates water. Kind of a smartass. I messaged him, old school way. Assuming he's not caught up in all of this, he'll be meeting us."

"Why would you drag him into this?" Steve asked, he didn't want to drag his friends into this. This wasn't Percy's fight, he didn't need to be caught up in whatever hell-storm that Steve caused.

Natasha raised an eyebrow, "You think I shouldn't have?"

"Clearly," he said, "Listen Nat, like it or not, right now we are at the top of SHIELD's most wanted list. Dragging Percy into this makes him a target. I won't put my friends in unnecessary danger."

Natasha snorted, "Rogers, listen, I appreciate what you're saying I really do. Percy's my friend, but more than that he's an agent. A very skilled, very proficient one. He's got a record nearly as long as either Clint's or mine. Add in that he's an Avenger and the son of a god and do you really think that he's not already a target? I'm not getting him involved in anything he wasn't already involved in."

She was right. He knew that she was right. Percy was already involved. It still didn't make Steve feel any better about bringing his friend into this mess he'd created.

"What about Barton? You bring him in too?"

Natasha's gaze darkened slightly and she shifted in her seat so that she was looking away from him, "Barton's out." She said simply,

"Out?" he asked, incredulous,

"Out." she said, "Look, it doesn't matter. Just know that he's safe, and he's officially retired from SHIELD work. I know where he is, and I know for a fact that he's safe there. No one besides me and…and Fury know about it." Steve knew better than to pry any further. He knew that Barton had been working on retiring but he hadn't known that he had successfully transitioned back into civilian life.

He knew when to fight and when not to with Natasha. When it came to Barton. It was always a losing battle.

The sun was setting as they pulled up to the gate of the closed base. Percy had already beaten the pair there, either that or HYDRA agents were considerably lazier this century, as the SHIELD truck was parked in plain sight, right along the road by the gate. Sharing a glance with Natasha, Steve put the car in park alongside the other vehicle. Unbuckling his seat, Steve reached into the backseat and grabbed his shield before opening the door. He approached slowly, with careful measured steps. Glancing over the hood of their stolen ride, he saw that Natasha was already on his wavelength, she had withdrawn a handgun and had it cocked and level.

The pair approached the stopped SHIELD truck, uncertain of where Percy was and more than a little conscious that this was likely a trap. Ducking down, Steve checked under the car, and met Natasha's gaze as she did the same. She silently shook her head and he follow suit. Standing back up, he caught a glimpse in the rearview mirror. Even in the fading light, he could still make out a shape of a person in the driver seat. He held up a single finger as he passed the rear driver-side window, knowing Natasha would see him.

He got into a defensive stance as he shuffled forward, raising his shield in front of him. He was nearly level with the door, the familiar rush of adrenaline flooding his system as he came closer. But as he came level to the door, he stopped in his tracks. Before he could help himself, he laughed, but quickly put a hand over his mouth to cover the noise. There, in the driver's seat, was Percy Jackson, head lolled to one side, snoring, as a trail of drool made its way down the corner of his mouth, collecting in a small pool on his shoulder.

He looked over the man and saw Natasha, now lowering her weapon as she smirked, a look of fondness in her eyes as she looked at her sleeping friend.

"Should probably wake him up." Steve said as he gained control over himself.

"Would be rude not to."

"Honestly, we're doing him a favor here."

Then, without preamble, Natasha smacked her window three times loudly. Percy jolted awake, jumping in his seat and slamming his knees into the steering wheel. This time, Steve didn't hide his laughter. Percy just turned in his seat and glared at him. Steve, still chuckling, stepped back and opened the door. Groaning, Percy swung his legs out and stepped out of the truck. He glared down at his friend and shut the door behind him.

"Cute." Percy said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I forgot that you drool when you sleep." said Natasha as she stepped around the front of the car. But she paused in front of Percy, and Steve, now that he had the chance to get a better look at the man, paused as well.

"You look terrible." Natasha stated simply, and Steve had to agree. Percys right eye was bruised and yellowing. There were holes in his clothing. Some were simple tears, and others looked suspiciously like bullet holes. There were a few lacerations along his arms and legs. and he was still bleeding in places.

"Jesus." Steve breathed,

"Percy actually, though I am son of god so I suppose you're not too far off there." Percy tried to grin but it turned into a grimace. Steve put a hand on his friend's shoulder and helped him back so he could rest against the car.

"What the hell happened to you Percy?"

"The Job." Percy said, reaching down and pulling his shirt up, looking down both of them saw that there was a bullet lodged in his lower pelvis. "Damn." Percy muttered,

"We need to get you to a hospital," said Steve sharply, "Or a nurse or something, Jesus Percy you shouldn't be here right now, what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that my friends needed my help. Then I got jumped at the border and I thought that they'd made it personal."

"Move." Natasha said, having suddenly appeared at Steve's side, she had a water bottle clenched in her hand and was screwing the top off of it.

"Thanks," Percy muttered as he outstretched a hand. Steve watched in fascination as the water rose out of the bottle and flowed towards Percy. The water congealed over the wound, sitting there for a moment before it began to seep into his skin. Percy took a shuddering, pained breath as the water sunk in. To Steve's bewilderment, he watched as the skin slowly stitched itself back together, leaving nothing more than a faint scarring over the wound.

"Bye Bye bathing suits." Percy muttered as he took a second water bottle from Natasha, Natasha just turned and smirked at Steve who did his best to ignore the smug satisfaction in her eyes. This time, Percy did the normal thing and downed the entire bottle in only a few gulps, and groaned in satisfaction. He cracked his neck and received a few very satisfying pops for his efforts.

"Oh god that's better." he muttered softly.

"That's a lot of damage for a little skirmish. And what were you doing at the border?" Asked Natasha sharply, her face hard as stone. Not for the first time, Steve was reminded that three of his teammates had a very close relationship with one another. He had only seen Natasha this protective around Clint but the look in her eyes right now would give even Banner pause.

"Remember that case I was looking into, the missing kids?"

"Your people, yeah."

"Well it turns out they were taken by some pretty bad guys. The kids were being split up into two separate facilities, one in British Columbia and the other in Quebec. But that's not even the best part." Natasha raised an eyebrow, indicating that Percy should keep going, "Well I guess Logan has had a run in with them before, they're the reason behind his adamantium skeleton."

"You have got to be shitting me right now."

"I'm not. Anyways, it ended in a firefight. Bout an hour after we cleaned up, you messaged me and I left. Got to the border, found out apparently you two are wanted fugitives and they tried to detain me. It didn't go well for them."

At Steve's sharp look Percy quickly added, "None of them are dead. Relax Steve, you ought to know by now that I don't kill unless I have to."

Steve sighed and ran a tired hand through his hair. "You good to continue?"

Percy flashed him a winning smile, "Right as rain spangles. So, uh, you guys mind filling me in on where we are and what the hell is happening?"

Steve nodded and the three turned and began walking towards the chainlink fence around the old military base. "You sure these are the right coordinates?" Steve softly asked as he gazed at the worn and run down sign identifying the base as Camp Lehigh

"The file came from here." Said Natasha,

"And where is here exactly?" Asked Percy from behind them,

"Where I was trained, before the Serum." Said Steve, gazing around as they walked, his eyes fogging over in distant memory.

As they walked, Natasha filled Percy in on everything that had happened so far. HYDRA's infiltration of SHIELD, Fury's death, and the appearance of the Winter Soldier. Steve meanwhile, simply wandered aimlessly. Lost in his own nostalgia. The past few months he'd been doing rather well too. He supposed that being as busy as was kept him from dwelling too much on the past. But here, in the place of his beginnings, he was overcome. He could practically hear the drill instructors, see the marching soldiers, and hear the crack of rifles from the ranges.

"No heat signatures, no waves, no nothing." Murmured Natasha as she scanned around the camp.

Percy's voice, drew Steve out of his reverie, "Hey Steve, look over there." He said, pointing to another worn down building a couple hundred yards from their position. Steve turned and looked at the building. It was the munitions dump, where all of the ammo and explosives were kept for training purposes. Nothing out of the ordinary, especially on a military base, except…there was something not quite right about it. Turning around, Steve glanced at the building next to them, it was the barracks. Percy caught his gaze and Steve knew that Percy could feel it too.

"Hey, Boys, I feel like I'm talking to myself over here. Mind clueing me in to what you're thinking so hard about?" Asked Natasha.

As one Percy and Steve began advancing on the old munitions dump. As they walked, Natasha fell in behind them and Steve said, "Army regulations forbid storing munitions within five hundred yards of the barracks."

"This building is in the wrong spot," said Percy just as Steve used his shield to smash through the lock on the door. Once inside the building, they were taken down an old flight of stairs. At the bottom was what looked like an office of some kind. Percy leaned over flipped the light switch on the wall to find that, miraculously, the power in the building still worked. As the lights came to life, the attention of the three heroes were all drawn to the back of the room. Plastered over the rear wall, was an insignia. One that all three were intimately familiar with.

"SHIELD." whispered Natasha from Steve's side.

"Must have been where it got its start." Steve mused as the group walked closer. Opening a door to a nearby room they entered what looked like where the files were being kept. There were also a series of pictures along the nearby wall.

"There's Stark's father." Natasha said as they approached the pictures,

"Howard." Steve informed, but he wasn't looking at Howard, he was too busy staring at the picture of the pretty young woman in the frame directly next to Howard's.

"Who's the girl?" Natasha asked, though Percy was certain that the woman damn well knew who that was.

Steve didn't answer, seemingly too lost in his own memories. After a moment, he simply moved away from the picture. The three walked along the cabinets until Steve came to a sudden stop. Halting on the other side of the man Percy listened,

"Is that…wind?" He asked,

"Sure sounds like it," Steve replied, as he gripped the side of the cabinet with on hand, "If you're already working in a secret office," he said, and then grunted as he shunted the compartment to the side revealing a hallway. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?"

Using some sort of device on her phone, Natasha managed to figure out the correct number combination to open the lift and the three stepped inside. The shaft ran deep, ten stories deep, if Percy had to guess, before the elevator slowed to a stop and the three walked out into what Percy could only describe as a building the size of the warehouse from the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Following the walkway, the lights in the hall suddenly came to life with a buzz. They were surrounded by technology that, at Percy's best guess, had to be roughly as old as Steve was. Turning to the end of the walkway he saw that there was a single computer terminal, surrounded by tape decks and various other equipment.

"This can't be the data point" Natasha said as she wandered up to the terminal, "This technology is ancient."

However, sitting on top of the desk that housed the terminal was a USB port. A very modern USB port.

"Nat," Percy said, waving her over, "take a look at this."

She walked over and eyed the port herself. She then shared a very knowing look with Steve before fishing out a drive from her pocket and plugged the USB drive into an empty slot. All at once, the technology in the room sprang to life. A garbled, voice spoke from the speakers to Percy's left, "Initiate System?" it asked as the words came across the terminal.

"Y.E.S. Spells yes." Natasha hummed as she typed in the command. Percy smirked and playfully shoved her, she responded by kindly stomping on his foot. As the computer whirred to life, Percy saw the malicious smirk on her face, "Shall we play a game." she intoned in robotic voice. Percy snorted as she turned around to look at Steve,

"It's from a movie that was really pop-"

"I know." Steve cut off, "I saw it," Clearly he was not in a joking mood, not the Percy could exactly blame the man. Looking over at Natasha, he subtly pointed at finger at Natasha, then at Steve, and then Percy wiggled his fingers as he wagged his eyebrows suggestively.

She glared at him and turned her attention back to the display. Percy had to chuckle quietly to himself. The woman could play the denial card all she wanted but Percy could see something there. But he decided to let the matter drop for the moment.

"What the…" Percy mumbled as the computer's monitor flickered before becoming a strange, pixelated picture of a face.

"Rogers, Steven. Born 1918." A heavily accented voice said, distorted slightly by the ancient microphones. "Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna, born 1984. Jackson, Perseus, born 1990."

"It's some kind of recording." Natasha mused.

"I am not a recording Fraulein." said the voice, "I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am."

"You know this thing?" Natasha asked, confused,

Steve looked between the large monitor in front of them, and the smaller monitor next to it displaying an ugly looking man in glasses.

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist working for the Red Skull." Steve said as he walked to the back of the terminal. "He's been dead for years."

"First correction: I am Swiss. Second, I have never been more alive." said Zola indignantly, "In 1972 I received a terminal diagnosis; science could not save my body my mind however, that was worth saving, on two-hundred thousand feet of databanks. You, are standing in my brain."

"How did you get here?" Steve asked, as he finished his circle of the terminal.

"Invited." was the simple response.

"It was Operation Paperclip, after World War Two SHIELD recruited scientists with…strategic value." Natasha supplied.

"They thought I could help their cause." Said Zola sinisterly, "I also helped my own."

"HYDRA died with the Red Skull." Steve countered,

"Cut off one head. Two more shall take its place." Said the scientist as his face split into two, to emphasize its point."

Percy snorted, "Prove it"

Suddenly several more monitors began flickering to life, "Accessing archive," said Zola.

"Cute," muttered Percy, "It brought its high school book report with it."

Zola ignored him, "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be entrusted with its own we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom. They resist."

"Wow." said Percy, faking astonishment, "it's almost like all of human history couldn't have told you that." Again, Zola ignored Percy, too deep into its own monologue,

"The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded, and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite, inside SHIELD. For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crises, reaping war. And when History did not cooperate, history was changed."

"Thats impossible." Said Natasha but even she sounded uncertain. "SHIELD would have stopped you."

The pictures on the monitor shifted, showing a picture of newspaper clippings outlining the death of Howard Stark and his wife. Percy felt his stomach clench painfully,

"Accidents," said Zola ominously, "Will happen." The picture changed again, this time showing a file of Nick Fury with the word 'Deceased,' over his cover photo. To Percy, the implication was clear. HYDRA not simply engineered the car accident that killed Howard Stark. Tony's father, if they had used the Winter Soldier to kill Fury, then Zola was clearly implying that HYDRA had also used the Winter Soldier to kill Howard as well.

Rage built within Percy and he saw red. While he and Tony were not the closest of friends. He still knew the man, worked with the man, had saved the world with the man. And to hear that SHIELD, no…HYDRA, acting as SHIELD, had engineered the death of his comrades parents. Well…Percy very much wished that Zola was still alive so that he could throttle the scientist in person.

Glancing over, Percy saw Steve's fists were clenched tightly, as hard as this was for Percy, he knew that this was much harder for his friend. Steve knew Howard, and fought alongside the man, and had called him a friend. When he went into the ice, it was seemingly with the knowledge that he had succeeded in ending HYDRA and the threat they posed to the world. To find out that HYDRA had not only survived, but had thrived under the banner that Howard had helped create would be painful enough, but to then learn that HYDRA was the reason behind his friend's death? It was a nauseating prospect.

Percy liked to think he knew Steve well. When the two weren't actively on missions, they spent a lot of their limited free time in one another's presence. Percy had been instrumental in helping Steve to reacclimatize to the modern world. So Percy knew how the man thought, how he felt. And Percy knew that he would be taking this as a personal failure. He would tell himself that had he not gone into the ice, he could have been there, he could have stopped HYDRA from existing. More importantly he could have prevented Howard's murder. Steve would call it a failure, he had thought that when he went into the ice, he had ended the threat, but instead, he had perhaps created something more sinister. Percy did not agree with that philosophy. But he just knew that was the way his friend was feeling.

Zola was speaking again, "HYDRA created a world so chaotic, that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom, to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order, will arise. We won Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your life. A zero sum."

Steve had finally heard enough and punched the monitor. Natasha looked at him, startled, "If he didn't do it." Percy grunted, hot indignation burning away at his insides at this stupid computer's mockery of his friend, "I would have."

"As I was saying." Zola's voice continued, as his image appeared on a different monitor.

"What's on this drive?" Steve demanded, panting slightly out of sheer rage.

"Project insight, requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm,"

"What kind of algorithm," demanded Natasha, "What does it do.

"The answer to your question fraulein, is fascinating unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it." As the computer finished speaking there was a clacking sound. The doors to the room closed and Steve's shield, which he had thrown in an attempt to jam the doorway, ricocheted harmlessly away. The shield clattered off a nearby wall and back to Steve. At the same time, something in Natasha's pocket began beeping. Pulling out her phone she looked at the screen.

"Steve, we got a bogey." Steve turned to look at her. "Short range ballistic. Thirty seconds tops."

"Who fired it?" Steve demanded, but that was when Percy began tuning them out. They were trapped, or at least, so Zola assumed. Percy flexed his hand experimentally, feeling outward with his senses as he did so. There! Just below the floor and the walls, he could feel the earth. Percy smirked, Zola thought he had them trapped, but he had simply put Percy in his own element.

Without asking for permission he grabbed Natasha by the waist and pulled her flush to him, then he grabbed Steve and did the same, the pair yelped in surprise but Percy ignored it. Focusing his will on the earth below their feet, Percy willed the world to bend to his whim. In an instant, the world began to shake, Natasha and Steve lost their balance but Percy kept them close all the same. Then, the ground around Percy began to split, as large earthen walls shot out of the ground. Wishing five seconds, the three were encased in a earthen bunker. Percy then willed the small bunker to sink below the floor. Unfortunately, the bunker had only managed to sink roughly halfway before it was rocked by a tremendous explosion. The floor beneath them shook, and the three heroes were thrown about the small makeshift bunker. Percy's concentration began to lapse as his head made contact with the wall.

The roof of the construct began to break, and Steve raised his shield to cover himself and Natasha as debris began to filter into the bunker. Percy outstretched his hand and placed it on the ceiling, roaring as he focused on the falling concrete, trying to keep as much as possible from falling on top of them. And then, after what seemed like an eternity, the shaking stopped, and all was quiet.

Percy collapsed against his wall, breathing heavily, he had used a lot of his powers in the last few days, and he was beginning to feel the true drain his excursions were having on him. Hearing Steve's labored grunting, Percy stepped over to him, taking care not to step on Natasha, and helped the Captain as he dislodged a piece of fallen concrete from the side of the makeshift bunker. At some point during the bombardment, Percy's creation had become dislodged from its half-sunken state and had been sent sprawling across the room.

With a heave, the two men managed to dislodge themselves from the protective creation, as he stepped out into the night air, Percy was in awe that they had managed to survive. There was nothing left of the building they had once been housed in. Bits of the building were on fire and burning around him. But that wasn't what had Percy's immediate attention. It was the whirring of turbines. Specifically the turbines in the quinjets that Stark had provided SHIELD. Percy knew that sound, turning around he saw Steve pulling Natasha's limp form out of the wreckage. For a minute, Percy's heart stopped at seeing her still form. But he felt out and could feel the blood still pumping in her to her heart.

She was still alive, but not for much longer if they didn't get the hell out there. "Steve. We got incoming, we need to get out of here now. You know somewhere we can lay low?"

Steve nodded after a brief moment.

"Yeah I know a place."


	13. Thunderstruck

As it turns out, Steve's idea of a place to lay low was essentially a stranger's house in D.C. That wasn't to say that this Sam Wilson dude didn't seem like a nice guy to Percy, but he was also incredibly uncomfortable bringing in some uninvolved civilian into this mess. But Steve had made the judgement call and Percy trusted Steve, so if Steve felt like Sam could be trusted with their safety and with some discretion, then Percy was just going to have to deal with it.

Percy let out a sigh of pleasure as the warm water of the shower rolled over his skin. Uncomfortable with the situation or not, Percy could not deny that having a warm shower after the last several days wasn't exactly what he and his hammered body needed. He could feel his aching joints pop and the dislocation in his shoulder correct itself. He rolled his newly corrected shoulders and turned the water off. Opening the curtain to the shower, he willed himself dry and stepped out onto the small drying mat in front of the sink.

With a wave of his hand, he willed the fog on the mirror to disappear. He took a long look at the man in the mirror. He felt like a stranger. Large, tired bags under his eyes, his cheeks hollow and the longer he stared, the more he recognized the almost dead and far off look in his eyes.

For the umpteenth time in his relatively short life, his entire world had been turned upside down again. He had not really had the time to really process things until now, but the gravity of their situation was hitting him with the weight of semi. SHIELD was gone. No matter how this turned out, even if they managed to stop whatever it was the HYDRA was getting ready to do, SHIELD needed to die. It was simply too corrupted to exist as it had.

But what did that mean for him? For Nat or for Steve? Assuming he got out of this mess in one piece, where would he go from here? Tony had mentioned something a while back about turning his former tower into a pseudo base of operations for the Avengers Initiative. Maybe he would be able to stay there? He didn't want to move back in with his mom and Paul. He still had his apartment in New York but that was still contaminated with thoughts of Carol and he wasn't sure if he was ready to be back there yet.

And even then, he was technically out of a job which was a bit of a kick in the teeth. He sighed again and rubbed at his face, he would worry about all of this later, when he had a better grasp of if there would even be a free world to come back to. He finished pulling his shirt and jeans on before opening the door to the bedroom.

Stepping into the room, he saw Steve and Natasha huddled on the other side of the room having a close, hushed conversation. Neither noticed him, they were far too engrossed in their conversation. Deciding to leave them to it, he knew that they would tell him if it was important, he just opened the door to the hallway. Calling out as he left he said, "Shower's free." and closed the door behind him. He walked down the carpeted hall, passing by several photos of a younger and Sam and what must have been his family. Some were photos of him on deployment and others were photos of vacations or family gatherings.

As he came into the kitchen, he was greeted by the sound of pans being clattered together. Sam was bent over, rummaging through a cabinet by the stove. Leaning against the door frame, Percy watched as the man pulled out several large pans and placed them on the stove. For a moment, Percy was slightly overcome. This had man had not only taken great personal risk by allowing three fugitives, wanted by the single most powerful security force on the planet into his home, but he was now cooking them breakfast.

These were the moments that reminded Percy what he had fought so hard for. The goodness of humanity. That sometimes, even when nothing seems like it was going to go right, and like life was content to continue kicking you in the balls, the simplest gestures and the kindness of others will always shine brighter.

"Thank you." Percy said, and Sam jumped, nearly dropping the pans as he did so.

"Jesus man, we need to put a bell on you." Sam said as he tried to calm his breathing. "But seriously, you got nothing to thank me for."

"Well that's a crock of shit." Percy said as he pushed off the wall and walked over to the fridge. Opening the door he reached in and grabbed a carton of eggs and a large, unopened package of bacon.

Feeling Sam's confused stare on him as he worked, Percy continued. "You don't know me. You don't know Natasha. Hell you barely know Steve. And yet here you are; letting us into your home, using your shower, and letting us eat your food." Percy cracked several eggs and began pouring them into a large bowl. Grabbing a carton of creamer he poured a healthy dose into the mix and began mixing the eggs together. "With zero regard for your own personal safety; you are housing, aiding and abetting three of the most wanted fugitives in the world at the moment. So take the thank you."

Sam was quiet for a moment, focusing his attention on greasing one of the skillets with a dollop of butter. "I wouldn't say that I don't know you guys." He finally said as he moved on to begin greasing a second skillet. "Sure, this is the first time I'm meeting you and Widow, and yeah I've only ever had a few conversations with Steve, but I think I know you guys well enough. Did you know that I was in New York?" he asked, clearly not expecting a response, "Of course you didn't. But I was there, I was there for a conference. Bunch of us VA guys getting together to compare notes, learn how to do our jobs better you know? Then suddenly, this big ass portal opens up over Midtown and everything went to hell. So naturally, we begin doing what comes naturally, we join up with the nearest Guard deployment, get kitted up, and tried fighting back."

Sam ripped open the package of bacon, and as Percy added his eggs to one skillet, Sam began adding bacon to the other. Sam continued as he worked, "We were losing, of course we were, what were a bunch of humans with guns supposed to do against flying monsters the size of the flatiron? But then we started getting these weird calls over the radio. Report after report coming in that a bunch of civilians dressed like they belonged at ComicCon were pushing back the bad guys. I saw the Hulk tackle one of those big ass centipedes out of the damn sky."

Sam flipped over the bacon as they crisped on one side and Percy was mixing the eggs, ensuring a creamy and fluffy texture. "My unit was advancing on this school. This small middle school that got stuck in the middle of all the fighting. We'd gotten word in that a squad of the aliens was last seen advancing towards the school. We had just breached into the building and were clearing rooms. I saw flashing blue lights and we must have broken every Olympic forty-yard record hauling it towards that gym. But when we got there, what did we see? Not a room full of dead middle-schoolers, but instead, four dead aliens and a bunch of safe kids."

Sam grabbed a plate and began placing paper towels over the top of it to collect the bacon grease. He then used a pair of tongs to place the steaming bacon over the top of the towels. Percy turned the burner off, and scooped the mass of eggs into a large serving bowl on the island behind him.

"I saw you leave." Sam continued, now grabbing bread slices to feed into the toaster, "Just your back as you jumped out of the hole in the gym. Hell of a vertical on you by the way. Must be a killer in a pick-up game." Percy just chuckled, "But as I watched you leave, and as I saw the dead aliens you left in your wake. I knew we'd be ok. And it also told me everything I will ever need to know about you, and the rest of your team. Not only were you fighting and pushing back waves of the bastards. But you were going out of your way to save as many civilians as possible. And before you say anything, I've seen the footage and I've seen the pictures. You guys took a hell of a beating. So yeah, you say thank you? Well man consider this as me saying 'no, thank you.' Thank you for everything you've had to give and sacrifice. And if offering up my home and my food is the only way I can do that? Then I'm going to take that."

Sam then turned around and flashed Percy a very cheeky smirk, "Besides man, it's not every day that Captain America, Black Widow, AND the Sentinel show up at your door needing help."

Percy just groaned, "Please tell me that people aren't still calling me that."

Sam had the audacity to laugh at him. "Hey bud, that's what you get for not coming up with your own name."

Percy just buried his head in his arms as he leaned on the table, "Oh c'mon man, it's not that bad."

Percy just turned his head and glared at the man. Sam just laughed again, "Ok, it's not great."

"I don't even know where it came from!" Percy said exasperated, as he threw his hands up, "My abilities are water and earth based! Sentinel doesn't even make sense!"

"Probably, but you're forgetting something man," Percy just raised an eyebrow, "The power of twitter." Percy just glared at him, shortly after the battle, while things were still confusing and uncertain, there was a lot of speculation over the identity of the mysterious tall stranger who could bench-press a four-wheeler and create weapons out of water.

That is until a tweet by "ParkerProblems00" referred to him as a "Sentinel: a soldier or guard whose job is to stand and keep watch. Like the man watching over us. You saved my life. I can never thank you enough! #Avengers#Sentinel"

Soon enough the hashtag was number one on trending on twitter and it was simply what everyone was calling him. Natasha and Clint wouldn't stop ribbing him over it for a week.

Sam got his laughter under control, "Look man, what I was trying to say is, you guys needed my help. At the end of the day, it's as simple as that."

Percy just smiled, at the end of the day, sometimes it really was that simple. Sam saw someone in need of help, and stepped in. If the world had more Sam Wilsons, it would be a safer, kinder place.

The friendly silence was interrupted by a ringing. From his pocket, Percy retrieved his phone. "Uh, not to be a buzzkill, but are you sure you should have that?" Said Sam, "Can't they trace that?"

Percy just shook his head, "Stark encrypted this himself with his own personal AI." Seeing the name of the caller, Percy began walking away from the kitchen, "Sorry man, but I have to take this." Sam just waved it off, "Take it, I'll go grab the lovebirds."

"Huh, he noticed that too." Percy said to himself as he answered the call, "Hey Jean." He said, preemptively wincing.

"Perseus Jackson." Full name, not good for him, "What the hell is wrong with you?" Also not good for him. "Two days. Two goddamn days. No phone call, no text, no nothing from you. Instead, I have to find out from Logan of all people, that you ran off. And then I see you on the five o'clock news beating the living hell out of border patrol! What is going on? Are you ok? I saw you get shot! Do you need help? Do you need-"

"Jean!" Percy cut her off, "Breath." He commanded. There was a pause on the other end of the line before Percy heard Jean inhale slowly, and exhale. "Ok, look. I'm sorry, you are absolutely right. I should have called you. But Logan told me everything had gone well on your end and well, Widow had gotten a hold of me that something really big had been going down." Percy paused, now he was trying to get his own breathing under control. "SHIELD has been infiltrated by HYDRA. At this point it would be safe to say that SHIELD is HYDRA now. Fury is dead. Assassinated by a HYDRA agent."

Percy sat down on the plush couch in Sam's living room, sinking back into the comfortable cushions. "We're safe. A new friend. He's watching out for us right now."

Jean was quiet for a moment, and when she spoke again her voice was soft, but full of concern, "You didn't answer my question. Are you ok?"

Now that was the million dollar question. Was he ok? Was any of this ok? Was any part of this situation ok at all?

"I don't know." he said, "I don't have a clue Jean. Before SHIELD, I was lost. I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life in jail, simply because mortals don't see what I see, what we see. And now, I've found out that the organization I have dedicated my life to has been the bad guy all this time. How much of what I've done has really changed things for the better? And how much was just all a part of their twisted plan for global domination. I just-I feel so lost right now."

There were not many people that Percy could be this honest with. But Jean was one of them. It wasn't because she could read his mind and pull the information out of him either. She was simply someone he trusted implicitly. She had been on the few to stand for his defense when Colossus had found him and Patty. She had been there for him after his mistake in New Orleans had nearly destroyed the city. She had been a confidant and dear friend to him in his most trying and turbulent of times.

He rubbed a tired hand over his face as he laid back and rested deeper into the couch.

"Oh Percy…" Said Jean sadly. And Percy felt a wave of calmness wash over his body. It was a feeling of reassurance, support and love. Even from New York, Jean was able to use her abilities to give Percy the support and empathy that he needed in this time of need.

"Percy. I have seen you do incredible, wonderful things. I have watched as you have touched the lives of everyone you come across. You are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for Percy. I know things seem hopeless right now. But you're not lost. You have your friends. Your Avengers, your family, everyone here at the mansion. You have me Percy. You are not lost, and you never will be. Because we'll be here with you, every step of the way."

Percy was touched, the strength and determination behind her words, it warmed his heart. And he knew that she was right. He was not going to be alone in this. It wouldn't be like last time. He wouldn't be left out to dry by those closest to him. He would fight this. And he would win, because he the unconditional love and support of others behind him.

"Thank you Jean," he finally managed to say, "I can't-I can't express to you how much better that makes me feel." and he was serious. From the walk from Zola's base, to Sam's house and even now, his doubts and fears and insecurities had been waging a war within him. Jean's expression of support and kindness was enough to lift the veil enough for Percy to see daylight on the outside of the proverbial tunnel.

Seeing a smirking Sam come his way Percy stood up, "Listen Jean, I have to go. But I'll talk to you again soon. I promise."

"Please be safe Percy."

Percy frowned, knowing that what was likely about to come, would the exact opposite of safe.

"I will Jean," he lied, "I promise."

Ending the call, he looked up at Sam, with Steve and Natasha following close behind, plates in their hands. Looking Steve in the eye Percy said,

"So. What the hell is our plan here?"

BREAK

The plan, as it turned out, had been needlessly complex and honestly one of the most gods damned stupid jobs Percy had ever planned for. Which given the fluster cluck of poorly planned missions Percy had been on, was honestly impressive. After breaking into Fort Meade, Percy and Natasha managed to secure one of Sam's exoskeleton flight suits, they then used the stolen suit to capture and interrogate former SHIELD analyst Jasper Sitwell.

Sitwell had admitted that Zola's algorithm was used to predict potentially dangerous targets to HYDRA's vision for the future, and that Project Insight's objective was to eliminate these potential threats. The clock was ticking as Sam's car rocketed down the freeway towards the Triskelion, and Percy was exactly ten seconds away from knocking Sitwell's teeth out. Sitting in the middle between Sitwell and Natasha, Percy was feeling exceptionally cramped.

"HYDRA doesn't like leaks." The analyst was saying,

Sam gave him a cold look through the rearview mirror, "Then why don't you try sticking a cork in it?" he said.

Natasha butted into the conversation, poking her head around Steve's seat to address the Captain, "Insight's launching in sixteen hours. We're cutting it a little close here."

"I know," said Steve as he turned to watch traffic through the passenger side rearview mirror. Referring to Sitwell, he said, "We'll use him to bypass the DNA scans and access the Helicarriers directly."

Sitwell moved to butt in, leaning over Percy's legs to address the Captain, but Percy slammed him back in his seat with a glare, Sitwell was not deterred however, "Are you crazy?" Sitwell asked, "That is a terrible, terrible idea." However, they never got to find out exactly why this was a bad idea, as there was a sudden thud on the roof of the car. As one, everyone in the car looked towards the car's roof. Then, there was a blur of movement and an explosion of glass coated Percy in Sitwell's window. A shining metal arm reached in, grabbed Sitwell by the lapels of his sport coat, and threw him across the overpass directly into a moving Semi.

Acting quickly, Natasha climbed over the center console and into Steve's lap in the passenger seat. As she was doing this, Percy cocked a fist back, coating his hand in a layer of thin water, and punched the roof of the car. The roof of the car dented just as multiple bullets began ripping through the roof and into the backseat. Several shots missed Percy, who cocked his fist back again and punched up again, just as Steve gripped onto the gear shifter, and forced the car into park.

Percy's fist connected with something firm through the roof, and between the force of Percy's punch and the change in velocity due to the sudden stop, a figure was launched forward off of the roof of the car. It was then that Percy caught a glimpse of their attacker. He was tall, standing at roughly six feet tall, and powerfully built. His face was covered in a black face-mask and goggles, but his headwear was far from the man's most eye-catching feature. Instead Percy's eyes latched onto the shinning steel left arm.

However, Percy didn't have much time to observe as he was violently thrown forward. A large, grey utility vehicle slammed into the rear bumper of the car, the utility truck then started forcing the much smaller sedan forward.

"Jackson!" yelled Natasha,

Percy had already been in the process of unbuckling his seatbelt, "On it." he shouted over the squealing tires and scraping metal. With a strong kick, Percy dislodged the car door from the hinges, which bounced off of the median. Gripping the side of the sedan, Percy situated himself in the doorway, taking a look at the truck, Percy gauged the distance and jumped out of the car.

Soaring through the air, Percy landed roughly on the roof of the truck, between the force of his jump and momentum of the truck's movement, Percy almost rolled off of the back. He caught himself before he fell off of the back. His primary target was the driver. Running forward, Percy cocked his arm back, water congealing into a large, two-foot blade along the length of his arm. Thrusting his arm forward, Percy embedded the blade through the roof of the truck down and slightly ahead.

He felt the blade pierce through a body and the truck lurched to one side. Percy tumbled, reaching out, he managed to catch onto the side of the truck. Hanging on by one hand, Percy got a look into the truck. He had caught the driver square through the neck. His lifeless body was laying limply over the steering wheel. The man in the passenger seat was desperately hanging onto the wheel with one hand and tried to keep the truck steady as he fumbled around in his coat for his weapon.

"Oh shit," Percy muttered as the man got a grip on his pistol, and turned the barrel in Percy's direction. Twisting his body, Percy shuffled along the side of the car, crossing one arm over the other, just as several bullets tore through the window. Percy continued his twisting shuffle until he was facing the rear driver-side door. With a roar, Percy punched through the glass and gripped the door from the inside. With a pull, Percy ripped the door off, the momentum twisting Percy away from the now gaping hole in the side of the truck. Swinging himself back over into position, Percy launched two tendrils of water into the men in the backseat. The first tendril caught the first man square in the cheek. The second swung behind the first, and caught the second man in the temple at the same time the first tentacle connected. The two men were thrown through the passenger-side backseat door and slammed into the concrete barrier, falling to the ground limp and lifeless.

Percy didn't have a chance to celebrate his minor victory as a second truck came screaming in and caught the back rear bumper with its front bumper. Percy's truck twisted and flipped over. Letting go of the roof, Percy curled into a ball and rolled to a stop on the ground. There was a screeching of tires as the second truck came to a stop. Rising to one knee, Percy's body reacted on instinct. With his arms outstretched, a small shield of water materialized in front of Percy moments before bullets ripped into the water construct. The bullets were stopped, falling harmlessly to the ground. There were five men in the second truck, all out and firing automatic weapons at Percy. With an extension of his will, Percy dived to the side as his body turned into water vapor.

He rematerialized to the side of one soldier who had stepped out of the rear driver side, Percy's knee connected with the man's kidney's. The soldier's body sprawled into the side of the truck, denting the side of the vehicle from the force of the impact. Dashing forward, Percy ducked as the driver spun and tried to train his weapon on Percy. Percy managed to avoid the flurry of bullets as he wrapped a hand around the barrel of the rifle. He yanked the rifle out of the man's hand caught the man in the throat with a blow. The soldier fell to the ground, his windpipe crushed.

Vaulting over the hood, Percy kicked the rifle out of the hands of his next victim. landing in a crouch, Percy leveled a punch into the stomach of the man. The soldier doubled over in pain as Percy stood up and slammed his elbow into the back of the man's head. Before the two remaining soldiers could fire their weapons Percy kicked the still open car door. The door was dislodged and was thrown into the remaining men. The two men screamed in pain and surprise as the heavy door hit them with the force of a locomotive.

Breathing heavily, Percy paused and scanned the stopped freeway. During his fighting, his friends had been engaged in their own fight. Sam was now positioned along the concrete barrier, rifle in hand and firing sporadically down into the street below. Percy saw a third truck had rammed itself from the oncoming lanes and through the divider. The doors were open but there was no sign of the soldiers. Running, Percy quickly came even with Sam, who was crouching down below the barrier as he swapped magazines.

"Widow and Cap?" Percy asked, peeking over the barrier before ducking down again as bullets tore into their position.

"Widow was heading south and Steve was in pursuit. The dude with the arm was going after Widow. I'll stay here and provide covering fire, you going after them?"

Percy nodded, closing his eyes and focusing his will. Extending himself outward he searched for a moment before he finally found Natasha. She was crouched behind a sedan about a block away. Her heart was pounding and Percy felt his stomach drop a little as he found the wound in her shoulder. Less than five-yards away was the hulking figure of the Winter Soldier, steadily prowling forward toward Natasha. Snarling in anger, Percy vaulted over the divide, vapor traveling as he did so.

Reappearing beside the soldier Percy leveled a devastatingly strong punch to the temple of the HYDRA agent. Caught completely unawares, the soldier was sent sprawling. Bouncing off the side of a car, the soldier came skidding to a stop on his knees. He wasn't given a chance to recover however, as he was hit in the spine by Steve's shield. Dropping to his knees, the soldier gasped in pain as the shield was redirected into the air. Percy, who had been on the move the second his blow had landed, reappeared in the air, caught the airborne shield in his left hand.

Cocking his arm back, he dropped down to the ground with the intent to slam the point of the shield into the assassin's neck. But the blow never connected because the Winter Soldier managed to roll out of the way. Detaching the shield from his arm, Percy bounced the shield around the soldier, and passed the weapon back to its owner.

Catching the shield, Steve twisted and kicked the agent in the back. The soldier stumbled back but Percy was determined to end this quickly and was back on top of him immediately. Percy tried to throw a combination of quick jabs, but the agent was able to counter. Using his metal arm, he gripped Percy's incoming fist and twisted violently to one side, yelping in surprise and pain, Percy dropped to a knee and was defenseless against the boot that connected with his jawline.

Percy flew back, his back colliding painfully with a parked cab in the middle of the street. Hopping quickly to his feet, Percy moved to engage back into the fight. Somehow during the melee, Steve had lost his shield and was engaging their assailant in hand-to-hand. Forming water around his hand, Percy summoned a war hammer. Seeing Percy coming, Steve rolled backwards out of the way. The hammer construct crashed into the Winter Soldier. The soldier stumbled forward into Steve's connecting fist. The next several seconds was reminiscent of a tennis match, with Steve and Percy trading blows with their attacker. Striking harshly before passing their victim on to the other.

The dazed assassin regained his bearings and caught Percy's fist with his metal hand. While maintaining a firm hold of Percy, the masked man kicked Steve hard in the chest, separating him momentarily from the scrum. Quicker than Percy anticipated, the man turned his attention back to Percy and Percy's head snapped back as a gloved hand upper cut him in the chin. Stumbling, Percy reeled as another series of blows landed against his cheeks before a blow to his solar plexus doubled the half-blood over.

The Winter Soldier reached down into a sheath at his thigh and withdrew a knife. Before he could embed the knife through Percy's brain Steve tackled the man. The two landed in a tumble before separating. Parrying off a series of slashes and hacks and stabs, Steve managed to catch the soldier off balance and stunned him with a sharp hook. Stunned, the man had no defense against Steve's following kick which launched the man into another parked truck.

Shaking off the stars in his eyes, Percy pursued, intent on following up Steve's counter-offensive. Catching the man around the mid-section, Percy lifted the assassin off his feet as Percy continued his charge forward. Carrying the soldier forward, Percy launched himself off of the ground before twisting his position and driving the man in his arms into the ground. The concrete cracked beneath the force of the blow but Percy didn't let up. Percy delivered four heavy blows to his victims head. Focusing water around his arm, Percy conjured another blade that covered his arm and moved to finish the fight once and for all. However the Winter Soldier brought his arms up and caught Percy's attack.

Struggling against the shocking strength of the man beneath him, Percy attempted to plunge his blade deeper. He was unsuccessful and the Winter Soldier wrapped his legs around Percy's waist and leveraged himself up in an effort to reverse their positions. The sudden reversal forced Percy to lose his concentration on his construct, which evaporated. In the midst of the reversal, Percy's hands caught the face-mask of his assailant. Before the Winter Soldier's reversal could complete Percy roared and threw the man with all his might. There was a click as the face-mask disconnected and the Winter Soldier was thrown away.

Dropping the mask Percy heard as Steve jogged up behind him, breathing heavily from the exertion of the fight. Percy himself was trying to catch his breath. As the pair tried to recoup, the Winter Soldier stood up, with his face-mask gone they could finally see his face. He was young, maybe in his late twenties, long brown hair and shining blue eyes with a rash of stubble over his chiseled cheeks. Percy felt Steve freeze beside him.

"Bucky?" Steve breathed out, disbelief and confusion evident in his voice.

A look of confusion dawned over the Winter Soldier's face, "Who the hell is Bucky?" he asked, before raising a pistol and leveling it at Steve's chest. Before either Percy or Steve could react however, the man was struck in the back as Sam's feet collided violently his back. Rolling to a stop, the man tried to level his gun once again. There was a loud "WHUMP" from over Percy's shoulder and Percy watched as a grenade was launched into the parked truck next to the Winter Soldier. The truck exploded, and Percy turned around to see a wounded Natasha, sloppily handling a rifle.

Turning back to the truck, Percy was expecting, or maybe hoping, to see the charred body of their attacker. But instead, there was nothing but smoke. Percy took a shaky step forward, unsure of what was happening but stopped at the sound of sirens.

In a matter of seconds they were surrounded on all sides. Police cruisers and FBI and SHIELD trucks established a perimeter around Percy, Sam, Natasha and Steve. Before any of them could do anything, Percy's entire world exploded into pain.

BREAK

"I just don't know what's going on with him. He's been so distant lately, disappearing for hours at a time and then that whole thing with Jason at the Weapon X facility. I just don't understand what's going on with him."

Jean's grip on her coffee cup tightened as she spoke. She and Ororo were perched at one of the smaller tables that sat adjacent to the kitchen in the mansion.

"Is it me?" She asked her friend, "Was it something I said? Have I done something?"

Ororo placed a calming hand on Jeans over top of the coffee cup and patted her friend reassuringly, "I am sure that whatever is going between you and Scott has nothing to do with you."

"Then what?" Jean said exasperatedly, "I thought we had worked through this! We even sat down and promised each other that we would talk to one another! Open communication and all of that…" Jean groaned and laid her head on her arm on the table.

Ororo just soothingly rubbed her friend's shoulder. She was about to say something else when a commotion at the door drew their attention away from Jean's relationship issues.

"Miss Gray, Miss Munroe," panted the voice, the two older women turned in their seats to look at their student. She was young, only around twelve or thirteen and was one of the newer additions to the school. Long brunette hair pulled into a ponytail over a cheerful cherubic face, which at the moment was a mask of nervousness and anxiety.

"Yes Kitty," said Ororo, "What is the matter?"

The girl fumbled with her words for a minute before she shouted, "There's something on the TV you need to see! Mr. Jackson is in trouble!"

The two women stiffened immediately, and rose as one and chased Kitty out of the eating area. They followed her quickly to a lounge, where several students, along with Hank and Logan were gathered around a television as it broadcast a news story. It was a live shot of a street in Washington D.C. There were upturned cars and Jean could see civilians fleeing for their lives as three men had a fist fight in the middle of the carnage. The feed at the bottom of the screen read:

"Fugitive Avengers battle mysterious foe in downtown D.C."

Using her powers, Jean summoned the remote to her as she pushed her way to in front of the television. Turning the volume up, the broadcaster was reporting what was going on,

"…and it would appear that the other wanted Avenger Perseus Jackson, better known as the Sentinel has joined the fight. He and Captain Rogers are currently engaging in some sort of brawl with an as of yet unnamed attacker. According to a report delivered to us by SHIELD; Captain America, Sentinel, the Black Widow, and a fourth unidentified African-American male were caught attempting to break into the high security headquarters for the international defense organization. The fighting has spilled over into the streets and we are as of yet unsure of any casualties as a result of the fighting."

As the reporter was speaking, the camera zoomed in as Percy was caught unawares and got beat to a pulp by the strange attacker, before he was saved being skewered by a knife by Captain America.

There was a snort from the corner of the room, Jean tore her attention away from the screen to glare at the offending voice. She met the bespectacled gaze of Scott, who had heard the commotion and had come in to investigate. "This is the guy you trust with the safety of our students." He said scathingly at Jean.

Jean's heart thrummed in anger and she saw red, making a concerted effort not to lose control over her powers she snarled, "Scott, not now."

Scott snorted again and glared back and in a flash Jean saw…something, flash through his mind, straw yellow hair and sparkling diamond skin, but Jean was too angry to take too much notice, and Scott's voice distracted her further,

"You're seriously going to defend this guy? Look at him!" He yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the screen, "He started a battle in the middle of the capital. With absolutely zero regard for potential loss of life! How can you trust someone so careless? Hell, you saw what he did at the border a few nights ago!"

"We don't know what's going on!" Jean shouted back, desperate to defend her friend, "Percy told me that SHIELD has been infiltrated by HYDRA! We can't trust what they're saying."

Scott scoffed, "And you honestly believed that? I've had a bad feeling about this guy ever since Colossus found him and Patty. This just confirms everything I've been saying about him! He is nothing but a threat and a menace!"

"Scott!" said Ororo, utterly aghast, next to Jean and Logan, she was one of those closest to Percy and to hear someone she respected as much as Scott Summers disrespect and disparage her friend was outrageous.

"How dare you!" Jean snarled, "After everything he has done for us, for our students! How can you stand there and say that!"

Scott started, and then a look of dawning comprehension crossed over his features. His scowl deepened even further. "Oh I see how it is?" he rumbled,

"How what is?" Jean asked, no longer caring that she was airing hers and Scott's dirty laundry in front of their students,

"How long have you been sleeping with him?" Scott asked, his voice a low and terrible calm.

Jean was startled into utter silence, "W-what?" she asked, dumbfounded, unable to fully comprehend that this was happening, "What the hell did you just say to me?"

Scott's hand's clenched into fists, "I said," he grumbled, "How. Long. Have. You. Been. Sleeping with him." he said, taking care to slowly enunciate each word.

"Slim." came Logan's quiet growl from beside him, "I think you should leave right now." He positioned himself in between the leader of the X-Men and Jean, Hank following silently beside him, forming a formidable wall in front of Scott. "Before someone does something he regrets," and as if to illustrate the seriousness of his advice, three long metal claws slowly began to extend from the short mutant's knuckles.

Scott looked like he was ready to argue the point but Hank cut him off, "Scott. This is neither the time nor the place for this." he said, gesturing to the crowd of onlooking students.

Scott was breathing heavily, his shoulders shaking as his face was tinged red in utter fury and embarrassment. But he did the smart thing, and he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room.

Jean's knees shook as her mind swam. How could Scott even suggest something like that. Percy was a dear friend, a confidant, and an ally. Someone she trusted as implicitly as she did the Professor, but she would never dream of destroying her relationship with Scott for Percy. She loved Scott, they had been through hell and back together. Had fought and fell in love in these very halls. The idea that she would ruin all of that for physical intimacy with Percy was disgusting, and revolting. That Scott would even suggest that she was capable of such a thing made her stomach clench, and she felt as though she were going to be sick.

Tears stung at the corner of her eyes, and she numbly registered that a hand was gently guiding her to sit on the cushions of the sofa. But she was too absorbed in her own thoughts and pain to notice anything else.

What was going on, where the hell had this come from? Sure, she had known that Scott had always been jealous of her close friendship with the Avenger. Scott's greatest weakness had always been his own pride, and his own personal insecurities. It wasn't necessarily his fault, when you were ostracized and demonized for something beyond your control, you latched onto the few things in life that you could control. And Scott was deeply obsessed and committed to his duties with protecting and guiding and teaching the newest generations of mutants. It had been one of the many reasons Jean had fallen in love with him in the first place. But ever since Percy had entered their lives, Scott had changed. She could hear it in his thoughts, he felt personally threatened by the handsome demi-god. Threatened that Percy would attempt to usurp Scott's position in the X-Men, and would try and take everything that he had fought so hard for.

But that simply wasn't Percy, Jean knew Percy, knew him better than almost anyone. When he had been unconscious after his retrieval of Patty, she had searched his mind, and had been shocked and awed by what she had found. Percy Jackson was a man greatly troubled by his own failures, haunted by his vast demons. He was deeply, and completely selfless, and compassionate. The first to to give himself up if it meant others might live. Scott's disparaging accusation was not only an attack at her own loyalty, but on Percy's as well. Percy would never do something so heinous, not when he had experienced his grieving heartaches and broken hearts. He would never do something so selfish as to destroy another's relationship for the sake of his own desires.

It was all too much for Jean, too much in too short a period of time. Her mind was swimming. Confusion over Scott's outburst. Fear over the uncertainty of the relationship with the man she loved and for the life of one of her greatest friends as he fought for his life. Anger over the attack on her and Percy's character.

She was ripped from her internal monologuing by a scream. It was Patty, huddled on the opposite corner of the couch, one hand shakily pointing at the screen and the other covering her mouth, abject horror dancing in her eyes.

Turning her attention back to the screen, Jean had to swallow a scream of her own. The camera had switched from an arial view to a handheld camera on street level. There, on the screen was Percy Jackson. He was kneeling in the center of a circle of large pylons. The Pylons were crackling with electric currents. A series of electrical currents were jumping between each pylon, creating a impenetrable wall. From the tip of each pylon, a secondary bolt of electrical energy were firing directly into Percy.

Even from the distance of the camera, Jean could hear Percy's screaming. Captain America, Black Widow and the fourth man with what looked like an exosuit were all shouting at the soldiers as they were being cuffed and shunted into the back of a truck. Captain America tried to break free to help his friend but three soldiers with stun batons all struck him and the super-soldier crumpled to the ground.

The camera panned back to Percy, still being electrocuted, as he attempted to shakily get to his feet. Two more soldiers hefted heavy looking rifles and fired large cables. The cables attached to Percy's chest and two additional currents began shocking Percy, but the man refused to give up.

"Jesus kid, just go down," Logan said, his voice shaking with barely suppressed rage.

But Logan's anger could barely hold a candle to Jean's own. A white-hot, burning fury arose from somewhere deep within her. She began to shake, this time in unadulterated rage as opposed to heartache. A voice from within her subconscious thundered, " _Kill them. Find them, kill them. Hurt them, hurt them for hurting him. Find them before they take him from us."_

She was losing control of her abilities, cushions and vases began to float off of the ground, and Jean didn't even register that she herself, had begun to float off of the ground, as her strong telekinetic abilities leaked forth. And then in a flash, every fiber of her being felt like it was being burned from the inside out. It felt as though someone had attached her insides to a car-battery and flipped the switch. Percy's screaming rang through her mind as she felt what he felt, as she saw flashes of his life. She saw what he saw and felt what he felt. His parents. Clint and Natasha, fighting with him side-by-side on some unnamed middle-eastern street. Fighting beside Captain America in the streets of New York. Making love to a beautiful woman with honey-blonde hair and the heart wrenching despair he felt when she was gone the following morning. Finally was an image of her; of her and of the rest of the X-Men, but she held onto the image of her.

She reached out, fighting through the agony she felt through him, and tried to let him know she was there. With him, fighting with him, and for him. _"JEAN"_ she heard him scream in his mind.

Then two more soldiers fired cables into the back of Percy and two more currents shocked the unruly half-god. In a scream of utter pain and agony, Percy collapsed onto the ground, in a lifeless heap. Jean's own eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she too collapsed onto the cushions of couch.

The only sound in the mansion, was crashing of vases and busts as they fell to the ground.

 _ **AN: SUP! I am on a roll right now. Been on a real Marvel kick lately and I don't know why but I'm going to run with it until my muse runs dry. I just wanted to say thanks for all of the love and support for the story, it's been absolutely unreal and you guys are truly awesome. I have great things in store for all of you. So stay tuned, and let me know what you think! Thanks again for every one of you, you're all incredible.**_

 _ **Love,**_

 _ **LilDB**_


	14. Dust in the Wind

He was moving, he wasn't going anywhere fast, but Percy could definitely feel the ground shifting under his feet. Well, not so much shifting as much as it was that he could feel his feet dragging along the ground. He was vaguely aware that both of his arms were wrapped around something. His left arm was wrapped around something large. It felt distinctly like corded muscle, he could feel the soft cloth of a t-shirt and the moistness of sweat. His other arms dangling more loosely, around a considerably smaller frame. Feeling equally strong, albeit thinner and not as dense. It felt like he was resting on smooth skin, slick from perspiration.

He tried to open his eyes, but his body for the moment refused to cooperate. What the hell was going on, what had happened. He tried to think, but his memories were simply too hazy. A jumbled mess of noises and color. What had he been doing? A sharp sting in his abdomen jolted a memory; a memory of a metal fist catching him square. He'd been in a fight! That was a start, but given that Percy had been in too many fights to count, it wasn't all that helpful. He focused on the metal fist. That was a clue, had he been fighting robots? No, no that didn't make any sense at all. Robot armies were the product of cheesy sci-fi movies and bad television shows.

So, he must have been fighting a person. There was a slight spasm in his right arm and whatever was holding onto it jumped and Percy's arm fell from its resting place. Percy paid it no mind. His was body was slowly restarting. The fog of his memories was clearing up, and he saw a face. Or rather, a pair of cold blue eyes and black face mask. Like someone had flipped a switch he remembered. The Winter Soldier! He and Steve had been fighting the Winter Soldier, and they had been winning? He thought that they had been winning, but then the man had disappeared?

He felt a groan escape his lips and though his ears were ringing slightly, he could make out a muffled voice saying, "Hey, he's waking up!"

Percy ignored it, trying to piece together the process of events. They had been traveling to the Triskelion. He, Steve, Natasha, and Sam. They had been ambushed. They had fought it off. The Winter Soldier had escaped. And then what?

He felt the arm wrapped around the larger frame be gently pried off and Percy felt himself be lowered to a cold, concrete floor. He was sitting upright, but his eyes still refused to open. His head was spinning and the ground felt like it was moving under him. "Hey man, take it easy, you were shocked with enough electricity to bring down the Hulk alright? Just try to relax." said a soft voice by his ear.

He remembered. They had been surrounded, five pylons had fallen from seemingly nowhere and then he was being electrocuted. He had tried to fight it, to fight through the pain and get to the people trying to hurt him. He remembered someone reaching out to him, a voice? A face? The image of a stunning red-headed woman burst through to the forefront of his mind and Percy's eyes snapped open.

"Jean!" Percy gasped, as he inhaled lungful's of oxygen. As his swimming vision began to calm, he could take in his surroundings. He was in a tunnel of some sort. He could feel the earth above him along with the running of water of a nearby water way. A river maybe? He could feel himself get hauled shakily to his feet. Looking to his left he saw the sweaty and smirking visage of Sam Wilson.

"Easy there big guy. Take it easy."

"Where the hell are we?" Percy asked,

"Ask her," Sam said, nodding his head to Percy's right. Turning his head Percy felt his eyes widen in surprise,

"Hill?" he asked, shocked. "What in the-"

"You need to quit it with the Taco Bell Jackson. Jesus Christ you're heavy." said the former agent as she rolled the shoulder, she had been using to carry Percy before she strode off, taking the point position. Staring after her incredulously, turning to look back at Sam, the man just kept smirking at him.

"You good on your own?" he asked, Percy just nodded. He had regained feeling in his legs and he could move on unaided. Raising him arm off of Sam, Percy took a few shaky steps forward before he got his legs back. Sam strode by him, smacking Percy on the back and said, "Oh and by the way, we're talking about this 'Jean' girl later. I want details." and took off after Hill.

"C'mon Percy." said a voice to Percy's right, and for the first time he caught sight of his teammates. Steve was a sweaty, bruised, and dirty mess. But for as bad as Steve looked, Natasha looked even worse. She was pale, leaning on Steve for support as she pressed a bloody towel into her shoulder. Snapping into action Percy yanked the towel out of her hand and pressed his hand into her wound. She grimaced in pain and grunted but just nodded her head at Percy. Focusing his will, Percy felt the blood pooling around the wound and forcefully stopped the blood flow. Reaching a hand out, Percy summoned water around his outreached hand. Taking the hand off of the wound he placed his water laden palm over the wound and willed the water heal Natasha as it would him. After a few moments, the wound began to seal over.

Panting slightly, Percy was far from feeling one-hundred percent, he pulled his hand back. "It's not perfect but it will have to do until we get someone to fix that properly."

"Thanks." she said, smiling in relief, but he could see the exhaustion on her features all the same.

Steve maintained his position as support pillar and started walking forward, Natasha shuffling along beside him.

Percy fell into step beside him, "Fill me in. What the hell is going on?"

Steve glanced his direction, "HYDRA took us in. Likely to kill us in a remote location. I don't know how, but Hill managed to sneak onto our wagon. She took out the guard and got us out. She said this is a secure location for us to regroup and prep to take down insight."

Percy had questions about how the hell that worked out, but he had worked with these people long enough to know better than to ask. "That guy, the Winter Soldier, seemed like you recognized him. What's the story there?"

Steve's face grew stony, and his eyes adopted a glazed look. "James Buchanan Barnes. Bucky. That's his name. He's my best friend. Back in '43 his entire unit was captured and experimented on by Zola. I don't know what he did to Bucky, whatever happened helped Bucky survive the fall…"

"Damn…" Percy muttered as they trudged forward. This entire thing just got a lot more complicated. While Percy certainly didn't have any kind of a connection with Barnes, Steve was going to be compromised the next time they encountered this guy. He would hesitate, would pull his punches, wouldn't try to put the man down. Considering they kept running into him too, Percy would be shocked if they didn't have an encounter with the bastard when they tried to take down the Helicarriers.

As much as Percy could sympathize with the man, Percy wasn't sure that he would be able to control himself should he come into contact with the man. Percy didn't know him, didn't have the personal connection. All he knew was that the Winter Soldier had carved a bloody trail through the world over the last fifty years. And then there was the prevailing thought in his mind.

Tony.

Zola had heavily implied that Howard Stark, Tony's father, and his mother, had been assassinated by HYDRA. And if the Winter Soldier, if Barnes, had been HYDRA's personal assassin, it was not out of the realm of possibilities that Barnes had been the tool used to eliminate one of the founders of SHIELD.

Percy felt sick. Tony needed to know, he deserved to know. But Percy knew that the conversation would be far from pleasant. Percy had not known the man for very long. Could barely even call him a friend, but he was a comrade. They had fought together, saved the world together. Combat bound individuals in a way that nothing else could. So Percy resigned himself to knowing that they would need to have that very difficult conversation.

Glancing over at Natasha, he met her gaze and knew that she was thinking along a similar wavelength. Her eyes flashed, before they narrowed. She didn't need to speak for Percy to understand, they would discuss this later.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Percy tried to push the thoughts of his painful revelation away in leu of more pressing matters. Like how in the living hell they were going to destroy three, state of the art, Helicarriers.

Looking between the battered super soldier, the wounded spy, the falcon and former SHIELD agent, Percy realized that they were woefully underpowered. They needed much heavier artillery. His first thought was to try and contact Xavier, but he knew that would go nowhere fast. If Xavier was unwilling to unleash his team in the face of alien invasion, then he certainly wouldn't dispatch them to clean up SHIELD's mess. Even if Sitwell had mentioned that the mansion and the team were targets for Insight.

He considered trying to get ahold to of Thor, having the Thunderer for this would certainly make things easier. However, Percy had heard through the grapevine that Thor was currently dealing with some kind of a mess back on Asgard.

God only knew where Banner had disappeared to. As nice as it would be to have the heaviest hitter on the team, Percy was worried about having something so uncontrollable in the nation's capital.

That only left…

Percy sighed. Of course, it brought him back to Stark. That was hot mess for more than just a few reasons. Percy had seen the footage of the attack on Tony's mansion. And had seen the follow-up satellite imaging of the fight at the dockyard. As far as Tony was concerned, he was seemingly retired from the Iron Man gig. But Percy knew better. Men like Tony Stark, they were all talk. He would say he destroyed his suits. He would say that he was done and out of the game. But he wouldn't be able to help himself. He'd start tinkering and sooner or later there would be a new model of whatever suit he had been working on.

Then there was the whole Barnes debacle. Before he could even ask Tony for help, he would have to tell him about what he suspected about Barnes. It was wrong to try and keep that from him. More than that though, secrets like that never stayed a secret forever. Better to air all of this out now, rather than let it simmer and blow up in their faces later.

Percy would try and get a hold of Rhodes too. Not just for additional air support, but to potentially wrangle in Tony when things went south about Barnes. And Percy knew that things would go south.

His decision made, Percy checked his pocket, only to find that his phone had been destroyed during the fighting, sighing, Percy slipped the broken tech back into his pocket and brushed past Steve. Catching up to Hill he whispered, "I need your phone."

Shooting a puzzled look his way, she asked, "Why the hell would you assume that I have a phone down here?" Percy just raised an eyebrow. Huffing in irritation, the agent reached into her pants pocket and withdrew her own encrypted device. Percy slipped the phone into his jeans. "What are you going to do with that?" She asked,

Percy was saved a response by running footsteps, looking up, he saw an older looking man in glasses and wearing a full suit running in their direction.

"GSW." Hill called out, "She's lost at least a pint."

"Maybe two." Sam added,

"Let me take her," the man commanded as he stopped to examine Natasha,

"She'll want to see him first." Hill said cryptically as she continued past the man and down the rest of the tunnel.

She led them through a doorway into the inner-workings of an old hydroelectric dam. At the far end of the room was what looked to Percy like a makeshift hospital room. Pushing through the curtains, Percy shouldn't have even been surprised by what he saw.

Sitting propped up in a hospital bed, his one good eye barely open, was Director Fury. Turning to look over at the sudden intrusion, he said, "About damn time."

The man that had greeted them took Natasha by the arm and guided her to a folding chair at the side of the room. Sitting her down, he began working away at Percy's makeshift patch job. Before anyone could begin saying anything, Fury started speaking. "Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache."

"Don't forget your collapsed lung." muttered the doctor as he reopened Natasha's wound to begin fixing her back up.

"Let's not forget that" murmured the director sarcastically, "Otherwise, I'm good."

"They cut you open," said Natasha from her said, seemingly oblivious to what the doctor was doing, "Your heart stopped."

"Tetrodetoxin B," Fury explained, "Slows the pulse to one beat per minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it."

"Why all the secrecy," asked Steve, "Why not just tell us." and Percy could tell that Steve was starting to get very much fed up with all of the games. Percy could relate, when he was just starting out he got real sick of the half-truths and secrets. It took him year to finally get used to the fact that working for an agency like SHIELD, meant that more often than not, you were left in the dark. For a man like Steve, someone who thrived on structure and having the whole picture, the intelligence game must have been maddening.

"Any attempt on the Director's life had to look successful," Hill explained,

"Can't kill ya if you're already dead," Fury said, "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust."

"Well that stops now." Steve said, crossing his arms over his chest, "Because if we're going to put a stop to Insight, then I need to know that we can all trust one another to get the job done." Steve looked over to the doctor who was finishing up with Natasha, "How long to get him stable enough to have a sit down with us."

The man looked over to the director, who nodded reluctantly at him, "Gimme half an hour and we can get him mobile." he said. Steve simply nodded before wandering off into the bowels of the dam. Sam shared a look with Percy, who nodded his head at the man. Sam returned the gesture before turning and following the Captain. Walking over to Natasha, Percy helped her up and guided her away from the doctor and toward a small table outside of the makeshift hospital.

He helped her get situated before he pulled a chair out and sat directly in front of her. She wasn't meeting his eyes, instead looking down at her hands, folded over in her lap. "Hey," he said,

"Hey yourself," she said back,

"Haven't really had much time to talk you and I, you know, since all of this went down." Percy said, still trying to meet her gaze. "Just wanted to see how you were holding up."

Natasha's hands curled into fists into her lap and her jaw clenched. "Hey," Percy said a little more forcefully, "Talk to me here Nat."

She was silent, then she sighed and leaned back in her chair before she finally raised her gaze to meet Percy's. "Before SHIELD took me in, I didn't think that I was any more than what they had made me to be." she started saying, and Percy didn't need to ask to know who she was referring to. The Red Room. The Widow program. Where she was made into what she was. "All my life I was told that I was expendable. A tool. A weapon. And once my edge was dulled and no longer useful, I would be discarded. It's why I tried to be the best. To make sure that my edge never dulled. That way…that way they would never have a reason to be rid of me."

Reaching out, Percy gently took her hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He wanted her to know that whatever she was going to say, he was not going to judge her, or think little of her for it. He had known Natasha for most of his adult life. She and Clint had trained him, had taken him in. Had become the family he had left behind. She knew him and he knew her, as far as she let anyone know her at any rate. The fact that she was willing to talk to him like this, about herself, spoke volumes of the level of trust between the two of them.

"I did a lot of terrible things. I was the monster that they had always wanted me to be. But I got careless, sloppy. And I came across SHIELD's radar. They sent Clint after me. He should have killed me, but he didn't. He saw what nobody else did. He saw me as a person. Not a tool. Not some…thing to be discarded. But a person. He offered me a way out. I took it. And when I joined SHIELD, I thought I was going to be atoning for everything I had done before. To right the wrongs I had committed."

She paused and she broke her gaze off from Percy. He just squeezed her hand again and was pleased when she didn't pull away, but squeezed his back.

"But now, I don't even know if I've actually atoned for anything. How much of what we've been doing, how much of what I've done while working for SHIELD, has actually been for the good of the world? Or has everything just been HYDRA all along? Did I just trade one master for another?"

In all the time that Percy had known her, he had never seen Natasha look defeated. But right here, right now, was a defeated woman. And more than anyone in the world, at this given moment, Percy could understand exactly what she was experiencing.

He scooted his chair closer so that their knees were practically touching, "Ever since I was a kid," Percy began, "My life, my fate, was predetermined. Other people were calling the shots, and my life was not my own. I thought for the longest time that my choice were mine. But they weren't. They were the predetermined acts of the fates, and the gods pushed and prodded me along to follow certain paths. They used me, and I followed. Like the good little soldier they wanted me to be, I followed them. Not for them, but my friends and the people I loved. I did what I was told."

Percy had given her a rough outline of his life before, and it had been made clear to him in the past that SHIELD had been tracking his movements since he was a child, but it was one thing to read about him in a file, and it was another to hear it firsthand. Percy needed Natasha to hear his story in his own words.

"When I was sixteen, I was told that my choices would either save the world, or doom it, and that I would die either way. Turns out, they were wrong, the prophecy that the gods had thought was about me, wasn't, not exactly anyways. But the point remains that I had been manipulated into acting the way that I had, and had been molded into a weapon for the express purpose of dying to save the world. When the war was over, I thought everything else would end with it. That my life would finally-finally, be normal. I was wrong."

Percy took a deep calming breath, steadying himself as long-buried memories made their way back to the surface. "When I was seventeen, I was taken against my will. My memories were stolen from me, and I was forced into a position of leadership at the head of an army of my kind and told to wage another war against the darkness. Once more, others were making the choice for me. I was being manipulated into doing what others wanted. Were the intentions good? Yes, did my actions help stop an evil force from destroying the world? Yes, but the point still remains that I was not in control over my own life."

He was shivering a little now, and it was Natasha's turn to squeeze his hand in support, as her gaze never wavered. "We fought, and we won. And once more I found myself thinking that I could have the normal life I thought that I wanted. Then, the FBI raids my high school and arrests me. The hold me on trumped up charges, and throw me through a kangaroo court. I was sentenced. They locked me up and were prepared to throw away the key. The entire time, I prayed, I prayed to my father, to the king, to anybody I thought might be able to help me. But nothing. Nobody came to me. Nobody helped me. The people who had been running my life. The people who had used me to their own personal ends, had abandoned me. I understood why, I still do. They needed someone to take the fall to protect not only my world but the mortal one as well. But it still hurt."

Percy smiled sadly, thinking back to his time in isolation, thinking that he would never get the chance to breathe free air ever again, to feel the spray of the water on the rocks or smell the salt of the ocean.

"But someone did come. Coulson came. He got me out. Told me that the world owed me a debt and that SHIELD planned on paying it. He didn't force me to do anything, he didn't demand that I join up in recompense for their service to me. Instead, he made me an offer, that if the life I thought that I wanted wasn't what I believed it to be, then I would always be welcome with them."

Percy's smile brightened, thinking of his former mentor and friend. Of the man who had given him his life back, "So when I inevitably grew stir crazy, I had something to fall back on. For the first time in my life, I could make a decision, a life-altering decision, that was entirely my own. Then, in a manner of days I find out that the organization I have pledged my life to, was not what I thought it was. And I had this searing moment of doubt. I thought, 'did it happen again? Did I allow myself to be used again?' and that thought has been killing me."

Percy paused for a minute, sitting back slightly in his chair but maintaining a firm hold on Natasha's hand as he did so, "Yesterday, I said something very similar to what you just said. I've been worried about how much of what we've done was really in the name of SHIELD, and how much was done to further HYDRA's aims. We can sit here, and we can worry and we can cry over it, but it won't change the past. Nothing can. Instead, as we've sat here, and as we've talked, I've come to realize something. It doesn't matter if HYDRA has been pulling the strings. It doesn't matter to me, what is or is not true. The fact of the matter is this, without SHIELD, what it was or was not, I would not be here. I wouldn't have you. I wouldn't have Clint. I wouldn't have the Avengers, or the X-Men, or any of that. I would still be lost. But I'm not lost, am I? Because I have all of you. SHIELD offered me a lifeline in one of the darkest points in my life. And it gave me something I didn't believe I had any more."

He squeezed her hand again, "It gave me another family. People I could trust implicitly and completely, without having to worry. That's what I want you to realize Natasha," Percy needed her to understand, "I want you to realize that no matter what SHIELD was or wasn't, we still have each other, and it doesn't matter who was calling the shots, because at the end of the day, it wasn't them forcing you to do anything. Nobody was directing your life but you. You made a choice, a choice to be more. A choice to prove to yourself and the people who made you that you are so much more than the weapon they believed you to be. That's what matters. Nothing else. You did everything for the right reasons. You worked for SHIELD because you believed, in your heart, that you were atoning for your sins and because you wanted to make the world a safer place. That alone proves you are greater than anything else. That you're a hero. Never forget that."

For a while, neither said anything. Just staring at one another, Percy's face was a mixture of compassion and desperation. Desperation that his friend would realize the truth of what he was saying, and the sincerity with which he said them. And Natasha, just a mask devoid of utter emotion. Then, she dislodged her hand from his and leaned over the chair and embraced him. Her arms wrapping around him in a tight embrace. Percy wrapped his own arms around her and squeezed her back. Trying to put all of his love and unconditional support for his friend into the embrace that he could.

They stayed that way for several minutes, simply two friends holding one another in a moment of support. After a while, they dislodged from one another, Natasha's eyes were shining a little with unshed tears, dabbing at her eyes, the spy stood up. "We need to strategize," she said simply, "I'll help Hill with Fury, you get Steve and Wilson." Percy nodded and stood up to go after his wayward comrades. Before he was out of earshot, he heard Natasha mutter,

"Thank you"

And Percy smiled.

BREAK

It was a short while later that saw the group reassembled around the small table. Fury had a picture in his hand, staring with such a mix of resentment and sadness.

"This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize." He said sadly, lost in a sea of mixed emotions over the betrayal of a man he had called friend. "He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility." With one last glance at the photo, the former director threw the picture onto the table. In an instant, gone was the nostalgic and resigned man, and in his place was the director of SHIELD. "See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"We have to stop the launch" said Natasha, getting the discussion back on topic,

"I don't think the council is accepting my calls anymore." Fury said, as he opened a black case on the table top. Inside were three blue data chips.

"What's that?" Sam asked, shifting with nervous energy,

Hill answered, "Once the Helicarriers reach three-thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites becoming fully weaponized."

Fury picked it up, "We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own."

"One or two won't cut it" Hill continued, "We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational."

"Boom" said Percy dryly, and Hill nodded at him, "Which reminds me," Percy said, turning to look over at Fury, "These things can't fire until three-thousand feet yeah?"

"That is, literally, what I just said,"

Percy ignored him, "And we can only destroy these things, with the new targeting blades, which force the carriers to fire at themselves."

"You going somewhere with all of this?" Fury asked, but Steve beat Percy to the explanation,

"Those things are going to free fall directly on top of Metro-D.C."

Percy pointed a finger at Steve, "Bingo," he said, "How do we either A) ensure that these things aren't over an area with a very healthy civilian presence or B) Stop them from falling on top of people after they're destroyed?"

It had been bothering Percy for some time, he remembered New York entirely too well, the civilian bodies lying in heaps in the ruined buildings and lying in the streets. That time could hardly be considered their fault, but here? If they dropped three Helicarriers on the Capital and even one person died? That was one-hundred percent on them. Percy would be damned if he let innocent lives be lost because of their own carelessness or hubris.

"How would you suggest do that? I don't know if you noticed but we don't exactly have the manpower to evacuate the entire city." Fury snarked,

"Percy," Natasha said, getting his attention, "How did you keep the civilians away during the battle in Manhattan?"

"Morpheus cast a spell, put all of the mortals in a deep sleep that kept them off of the streets."

"Think you could pull something like that off again?" She asked, and Percy snorted,

"Hell no I don't," he responded, "That was Morpheus, God of Sleep. I've gotten pretty good with Mist manipulation but that is far and away outside my wheelhouse. Although…" Percy paused for a moment as an idea hit him, turning to look at Steve, "You're not camera shy, are ya?" he asked seriously, Steve looked at him, confusion etching his hard features. Fury drew them away by clearing his throat,

"Can we table that discussion for the time being?" he asked, at seeing everyone nod their heads he continued, "We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA," said Fury, "We have to get past them, and insert these server blades, and maybe just maybe, we can salvage what's left."

Percy and Natasha shared a look with one another but it was Steve who beat them to the punch. "We're not salvaging anything," the Captain said hotly. Fury paused on his planning and looked at Steve incredulously, "We're not just taking down the carriers Nick." Steve continued, "We're taking down SHIELD."

"SHIELD had nothing to do with this," Fury argued hotly,

"You gave me this mission. This is how it ends. SHIELD's been compromised, you said so yourself. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed."

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed."

"How many paid the price before you did?"

Fury seemed to have no answer to that. "I didn't know about Barnes" he admitted after a moment,

"Even if you had, would you have told me?" Steve asked, "Or would you have compartmentalized that too? SHIELD, HYDRA, it all goes."

"He's right," Said Hill, and Fury looked to her sharply, barely able to comprehend that his right-hand was turning on him too. He turned to look at Natasha who met his gaze evenly, leaning back in her chair, it sent Fury the clear message that she would not be on his side here either. He looked to Percy, but the man wasn't looking at him, instead he was typing something into a phone in his hand, seemingly feeling the director's stare he said,

"Steve's right Boss. Only way to make sure HYDRA dies, is kill SHIELD along with it."

Out of sheer desperation he turned to Sam who just shrugged, "Don't look at me, I do what they do, just slower."

Percy snorted, "Bet"

"We're still gonna talk about this Jean girl." the man shot back and Percy just looked up from the phone and glowered at him. Fury ignored the byplay and just shook his head, "Well," he said, before sighing and leaning back away from the table, "Looks like you're giving the orders now Captain."

"I hate to interrupt this little moment we're having here," Sam said, looking between Steve and Fury, "But can I just point out that it feels like we're going into this seriously undermanned. I mean we're talking about breaking into SHIELD, and destroying three state of the art weapons of mass destruction. Am I the only one thinking that we could use some additional support here?"

Steve just shook his head, "I don't want to have to bring anyone else into this if we don't have to. It's bad enough that we dragged you and Percy into this mess, I don't want to bring anyone else down with us."

"Too late Spangles. Already here. Thirty-day warranty has expired. No returns now." came a voice at the entrance to the dam. As one all heads snapped to the rear of the room as footsteps echoed off the wall. Walking into the light, dressed immaculately in spite of the damp conditions was Tony Stark, the composed features of Colonel Rhodes hot on his heels.

"Stark?" Steve spluttered in confusion, "How did you-? When? Who-?" his head snapped over to Percy who just raised an eyebrow,

"You really think that I was just going to sit here and not bring in one of our heaviest hitters on this?" he asked,

"One of the heaviest? You know what Margaritaville, just for that, you're officially uninvited to my birthday party."

"Oh no. My heart is bleeding. How will I ever go on?" Percy snarked back, "And honestly, I was being pretty generous. I'm like ninety percent sure literally everyone in this room could kick your scrawny ass."

"Jackson!" Steve said sharply, his tone every bit the commanding platoon commander he had been, "Why in the hell would you drag them here?" he demanded,

"Because Sam is right Steve." Percy said simply, meeting the Captain's glare, "This isn't some raid on a bunch of arms dealers or cartel members alright. We're talking about something that could literally wipe out millions of people in a matter of seconds. Besides, Stark has a personal stake in this now,"

"What do you-"

"You know exactly what I mean Rogers." Percy said coldly, leveling his friend with an icy glare of his own.

Steve's face glazed over icily. He knew exactly what Percy was referring to, "We don't know if-"

Percy slammed a hand on the table, cracking it slightly and he shot to his feet, "Bullshit!" Percy said, "I know you heard and saw the same things down in that sub-basement that I did. You know exactly what Zola was implying. I get it Steve, believe me I do. The man was your best friend, and HYDRA screwed him up, took his life away, but you cannot keep this from him. The man has a right to know!"

Steve took a step forward so that he and Percy were inches away from each other, "Even if Zola was being truthful, it doesn't change the fact that Bucky wasn't in control of his actions."

"I'm not disagreeing with you Steve, because I agree with you!" Percy was shouting now, "But you can't keep this from him," Percy said in reference to Stark, "Secrets like this never stay buried and we need to get this out in the open now before it comes back to bite us in the ass later,"

"We don't know if-" Steve started say, desperate to do anything to keep his best friend, his brother, away from further harm,

"Bullshit we don't! Steve," Percy said, imploringly, "I have been at this a long time. I know what I'm talking about, I know that you think you're protecting him," Percy gestured with his head to Tony, who was watching the debate like a tennis match, incredulity and annoyance raging in his features, "But all you're doing is prolonging the inevitable! The more you try and bury the truth, the more it's going to hurt when it comes out, and believe me Steve the truth always comes out. You cannot hide something like this forever!" Percy paused, breathing heavily in anger, desperation and more than a little exasperation.

Percy understood all too well what his friend was going through. When Percy discovered Luke's betrayal all those years ago, it had ruined him, but more than that, he had seen what it had done to Annabeth. The girl had idolized, even loved Luke, and while Steve's love for Bucky might have been purely platonic, it was similar all the same. To watch someone you love turn away from the ideals they had seemingly sworn themselves to, and lose themselves to a darkness they had little control over, it could be heart-wrenching. But Percy needed Steve to understand him. He needed Steve to see the light and come to terms with the fact that the longer Tony went without knowing about the truth of his parents' deaths, the more the truth would destroy him.

"He needs to know Steve." Percy reiterated, his voice considerably gentler, "And you need to be the one to tell him."

"Alright," Tony said, waving his hands around, "Enough the with the damn pronoun game! What the hell are you two talking about."

Neither Steve nor Percy looked at the agitated billionaire, instead they continued to stare at one another. Percy crossed his arms and cocked his head, his face saying, 'either you man up and tell him, or I will.' There was a scrapping of metal on concrete as Natasha stood up, padding over to Steve's side she gently placed a hand on his arm,

"You need to tell him," she said softly, but firmly. Percy watched as Steve's features softened, before he finally sagged in defeat. Collapsing into a chair, he gestured at the empty one across from him at the other side of the table,

"Tony, take a seat, there's something you need to know." Tony paused, looking over the lenses of his expensive sunglasses at the super-soldier. After a long pause he rolled his eyes before relenting and taking a seat.

"Before SHIELD caught us," Steve started, "Percy, Nat and I tracked data from a data drive to Camp Lehigh in New Jersey. While we were there, we found what we believed to be the first SHIELD operations headquarters. In a sub-basement below the base was a data terminal. In the terminal was the digital mind of Armin Zola, a HYDRA scientist that we captured during the war."

"I'm sorry but literally nothing about what you just said makes any sense at all." Said Rhodey who had walked around the table to flank Tony,

Percy just shrugged, "Our lives our weird man," he said simply,

Rhodey, who had never actually met Percy prior to this moment looked at the man incredulously, "Seriously man, you're saying this dude put his brain into a computer and we're just supposed to take that at face value?"

"A year ago a portal opened over New York and we fought off a literal alien invasion led by a Norse god by another Norse god, a genetically altered super-soldier who was frozen in ice for seventy years, a giant green rage monster, a half-god, a man in a tin suit, a spy, and a dude with a bow and arrow. Is this really the weirdest thing you've ever heard of before?" Percy asked dryly, to which Rhodey wisely shut up.

"Anyways," said Steve who tried to bring them back on topic, "In addition to telling us about HYDRA's infiltration of SHIELD, Zola insinuated that HYDRA had been involved in…attacks, on certain high-profile targets."

"Real life-altering stuff there Rogers," said Tony with a roll of his eyes, "What else did he tell you? Microwaving your food is actually bad for you? Or maybe he had the gall to suggest that the sky really is indeed blue? Oh! or maybe that-"

"He implied that HYDRA killed your parents." Steve cut Stark off, opting to rip off the first band-aid rather than beat around the bush any further.

Stark froze mid-sentence, his mouth hanging open in an expression of stunned disbelief. "What the hell did you just say?" he asked,

Steve rubbed his hands together nervously, "Zola. He implied that the accident that killed your parents wasn't actually an accident. It was an assassination."

Tony's mouth worked itself, but no words seemed to come out. After a moment of this routine, he finally stood up, "Alright, you know what, I like a good joke every now and then. Bit of a pranked myself ya know? But this, this isn't funny. Not even a little bit Rogers."

"Tony," said Percy gently, meeting the billionaire's eyes, "He's telling the truth. He didn't outright say it, but the implication was pretty clear. Howard Stark stood in the way of HYDRA's plans so they…got rid of the problem."

Tony looked at Percy but his gaze refused to waver. His eye betrayed the truth behind the Captain's statement.

Tony's pupils dilated slightly and his face drained of color. His hands clenched into fists on the tabletop as Percy watched the dawning comprehension slowly seep forward, as Tony began to steadily understand that what Steve was saying was utterly genuine, that this was real. That what he had thought about his parents up to that moment might have been wrong. It wouldn't have been the first time that Tony had grossly misjudged his father.

Tony tore his eyes away from Percy, ripping his glasses away from his face. He turned towards Fury, "Did you know?" he demanded, when Fury didn't respond immediately Tony slammed his hand down on the table, "Did you know?" he roared,

Fury's lone eye swiveled to look at Stark, "No I did not."

Tony's chest heaved as he took large and gasping breaths, "How could you not know!" He growled, "You're king spy, you know everything."

Fury raised an eyebrow as his eye tracked around the abandoned dam, "Far as I can tell Stark, I am currently king of nothing. I only act like I know everything Stark, but there are in fact, some things that even I'm not aware of."

"Clearly," Tony bit out bitterly. Before he made to walk out, "I've had enough, this is just," he waved his hand wildly in the air, "I don't even know what this is but I need to leave, get out of he-I just can't be here."

"Tony, that's not everything." Percy said calmly. before leveling Steve with a meaningful look.

Tony stopped, just as he was leaving, he didn't turn around but he didn't leave either, "We still don't know if-" Steve tried to say but Percy's sharp glare, and Natasha's hand on Steve's shoulder cut him off before he could finish. Sighing deeply, Steve acquiesced. "There is also the distinct possibility that it-it was the Winter Soldier who was responsible for it."

Tony turned around, a quiet calm on his face but Percy could see the rage burning deeply beneath the surface. "I'm sorry, am I supposed to know who that is? Because I don't and I gotta be honest, finding it rather hard to give a damn at the moment considering that all I want, is to blow every single person in the Triskelion to hell and back."

"It matters because the Winter Soldier is Bucky Barnes." Percy said,

"Barnes?" Tony asked skeptically, "Sergeant Barnes? As in the same Sergeant Barnes that dad never shut the hell up about? How in the hell is that even possible, he'd be as old as you are!"

Steve just shook his head, "HYDRA experimented on him back in '43, whatever they've done to him, he's forgotten who he is and they've somehow managed to keep him alive all this time."

Tony scoffed, "That is absolutely insane, you know that? Crazy, certifiable, all the above."

"Tony…" Steve tried to say,

"No!" Stark thundered, rounding on Steve and getting nose to nose with the man, "No you shut the hell up, because I'm talking right now. I don't know what kind of game you're playing Rogers, but I won't be a part of it. You tell me that HYDRA killed my parents, fine I can work with that. Benn doing this superhero shit for long enough now that it doesn't surprise me. But now you're telling me that your little war buddy was 'brain-washed' into killing my parents? How the hell am I supposed to respond to that? What would you have me do here Rogers, huh? What exactly is your plan for this?"

"We need to get him help-"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this,"

"Tones" Rhodey tried to say but it was all for nothing, Tony had already left the room. Steve just sighed and collapsed back into his chair, head in his hands.

Percy stood up and moved to go after Tony but Rhodey stopped him, "Don't bother man, he's going to be long gone before you-" he was cut off by the sound of jet's firing off. "Yeah like that," he then stuck his hand out, "Don't think we've met yet by the way, James Rhodes, call me Rhodey."

Percy shook his hand, "Percy Jackson-"

"Sentinel, I know," Said Rhodey with a smirk,

Percy frowned but focused on his more pressing concern, jerking a thumb over his shoulder he asked, "You sure that we shouldn't be more concerned with that? Pretty sure we just kind of changed his entire world view."

Rhodey shook his head, "I've known Tony for most a long time. He's going to need some time by himself to come to terms with this."

"I knew this was a bad idea," Steve muttered from where he sat,

"No, it wasn't." Rhodey insisted, looking at Percy, "I agree with you, he needed to know. This kind of thing can ruin someone, worst of all it could ruin a friendship. Like it or not the world needs Captain America and Iron Man on the same side. That can't happen if they're hiding things from one another." Rhodey looked out at where Tony had left, "He'll be back, whether he's willing to admit it or not Tony does have a bit of a hero-complex. He won't be able to stand on the sidelines while this goes down."

"Does that mean you're in?" Natasha asked, still at Steve's side,

"Of course." Rhodey said simply, "Granted you still haven't really explained what we're doing, why we're doing it, or how we're going to do it. But I know you wouldn't have asked for help, or asked us to meet you in the basement of an abandoned hydroelectric plant if it wasn't important."

Spreading his hands out in front of him he asked, "So, what are we doing?"

BREAK

Sneaking into the facility had been far easier than Percy had been anticipating. Of course, the man in the supply cabinet that Percy had knocked out and stolen the uniform off of might be a little pissed when he woke up, but hey, couldn't win everything.

Percy checked his watch, if everything was going according to plan then Alpha-team would be entering the facility at that moment. Percy had just been clearing a corner, the OPS center in eyesight, when right on cure, the Captain's voice began speaking.

" _Attention all SHIELD agents, this is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days. Some of you were even ordered to hunt me down."_

As Percy walked forward a group of STRIKE members opened a nearby doorway and began walking into the hall.

 _"But I think it's time you know the truth. SHIELD is not what we thought it was. It's been taken over by HYDRA."_

The lead agent paused mid-step, turning his attention toward Percy, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Percy's knuckles popped as he surreptitiously began feeding on the water in the air around him.

" _Alexander Pierce is their leader. The STRIKE and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more. But I know they're in the building."_

All of the men tensed as they followed their leader's gaze. One by one the agents began slowly unclipping the straps on the holsters. Percy gathered a stronger hold on the water. Behind his back his back, several knives of water materialized.

" _They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want. Absolute control. The shot Nick Fury. And it won't end there."_

Deciding that he needed to be the instigator, Percy acted. Moving faster than any mortal, Percy grabbed hold of the knives on his back and began launching them at the men. Two knives embedded themselves into the chests of leader and the one beside him.

" _If you launch those Helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone who stands in their way. Unless we stop them."_

Grabbing the wrist of another agent, Percy twisted and pointed the barrel into the forehead of an agent who was in the process of catching Percy in his sights. Squeezing the hand of the man Percy had incapacitated, Percy felt the pistol discharge and a splatter of blood sprayed into the face of another agent who was trying to line up a shot.

" _I know I'm asking a lot. But the price of freedom is often high."_

A stun baton caught Percy in the spine and he dropped to a knee,

" _It always have been."_

Reaching up, Percy grabbed hold the tactical vest of the man who hit him. With a heave, Percy launched the man into the wall. The wall cracked behind the force of the man's impact and he collapsed to the floor, motionless.

" _And it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it."_

The last man was shaking as Percy turned his attention on him. He dropped the pistol in his hands and slowly raised his hands in the air in surrender. Percy just smirked at him, before hitting him hard across the jaw, rendering him unconscious.

Percy turned his attention back to the OPS center, where Rumlow had entered, and was quickly making his way towards a row of OPS techs. Breaking out into a run. Percy gave chase, praying he would be fast enough to stop the launch.

" _But I'm willing to bet I'm not."_

 _ **AN:**_ **Hope you guys are enjoying this so far. I hated writing the last half of this chapter. Rewrote it about six times and to be honest, I'm still not super happy about it. I partly blame my skill as a writer but also the clunky plot that was the Winter Soldier in Civil War. Still, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The ride of this arc is almost over and I think quite a few of you are going to be rather upset with what happens in the next. Either way it's gonna be exciting. As always, thanks for the love and support, ya'll are awesome and are an inspiration for me as a writer.**

 **Love,**

 **LilDB**


	15. Shook Me All Night Long

The day could absolutely not get any worse. First, her alarm hadn't gone off and she had been nearly late getting into work. Then she had been replaced as head of her team for the Osborn trial. Then, because her meeting with the partners ran late, the meter in her spot had ticked over and she was now looking at a two-hundred-dollar parking violation. Jennifer Walter's day could not possibly get any worse. At least, that was what she had been telling herself just before her phone began buzzing. What was normally the usual message used for Amber Alerts had been replaced by a message saying:

"URGENT MESSAGE FROM THE STRATEGIC HOMELAND INTERVENTION ENFORCEMENT AND LOGISTICS DIVISION."

Before she could even clear the message, her phone began playing a video. It was shoddily shot, probably taken on a phone's camera in what looked like some kind of basement. On the screen was a helmeted Captain America. He was speaking directly into the camera,

"This is Captain Steve Rogers; to all person's in the metro-D.C. area, you must immediately evacuate the city. No doubt you have heard the exaggerated rumors of my supposed defection. The truth is this: SHIELD has been compromised, infiltrated by the fascist geopolitical organization known as HYDRA. They are planning to use a weapon against the people of the planet. Myself and a small team of Avengers are planning on stopping them however there is a strong likelihood that Washington D.C. is about to turn into a free-fire zone. for your own safety, please leave the city immediately."

"What the hell is this?" she muttered, looking up from her phone she stared around her; everyone along the small walkway was stopped in their tracks. They were all looking down at their phones, or staring at everyone else around them. Jennifer turned from where she had been sitting on the bench along the walkway along the Potomac so she could look up at the imposing figure that was SHIELD headquarters.

While part of her felt that such an imposing monolith was meant to inspire a sense of strength and stability, Jennifer had always been a little put off by the building. Feeling as though it was a bit too much like an active military base in an occupied country, rather than headquarters for their nation's most impressive security arm.

Jennifer was torn away from her staring as the ground beneath her feet began to rumble. Standing up quickly, Jennifer began to slowly back away from the small bench, as the reflecting pool began to open. There was a loud 'whooshing' sound, similar to that of an airplane preparing to take off and the ground shaking began to intensify. The noise escalated in volume, to the point it was almost deafening. Jennifer had to clap her hands to her ears and the fringes of her skirt began to blow as a strong wind picked up.

Jennifer found herself unable to move, unable to think or breathe. From where the reflecting pool had been moments before, arose three of the biggest ships that she had ever seen before. Jennifer had not been in New York during the invasion, she had been away on a study abroad in England at the time, but she had seen the images and she knew what a Helicarrier was. And here were three, rising from the depths of some sort of hidden bunker underneath the SHIELD headquarters.

Over the din of jet turbines and screaming, Jennifer could make out the brief sound of what sounded like glass being shattered. Looking upwards, Jennifer was shocked again, to see the shape of a man diving out of one of the windows of the SHIELD base. From where she stood, she could hardly make out the figure, dressed in black as they were. But as they descended, she could identify that it was a man, in his mid-twenties, dressed in dark combat fatigues. The man landed with a thud on the carrier and gunfire screamed above. The carriers had risen to the point where Jennifer could no longer see the decks, but she could hear the gun shots and the shouting and knew that whatever fighting was happening, was intense.

More movement from above drew her attention away from the carrier, two more figures were falling from a high point of the base. One dressed in a dark blue uniform of some sort, and the other wearing some kind of a harness. The man in harness then sprouted…wings? Jennifer blinked a few times, to ensure that she was not simply seeing things but no, her eyesight had not failed her. One of the men had sprouted metal wings and was now flying around one of the carriers as the big guns began to open up with antiaircraft fire. Ducking to the ground, the world seemed to shake even more around her as the skies above were soon coated in the black dusting that accompanied the heavy rounds.

There was an explosion from one of the carriers and Jennifer turned away from where she had been looking only to spot…Iron Man? No, that wasn't right, the suit was the wrong color and Iron Man didn't have a gatling gun attached to its shoulder. This was the other guy, War Bot or something. It was firing small arms from its wrists and its shoulder mounted turret as it evaded more antiaircraft fire.

Jennifer became intimately familiar with her surroundings as the screaming started. Pedestrians were running in every direction, yelling and holding onto one another as they fought to get away from the intense battle. That was when Jennifer remembered the message on her phone. This was what Steve Rogers had been talking about, that warning had been true.

She tried to run; turning away from the fighting to make a getaway in the opposite direction. But she got hit from behind, she went sprawling to the paved ground, her glasses flying free from her face. Scrambled on hands and knees, trying to find her glasses, she screamed in pain when a panicked pedestrian stepped on her ankle. She felt and heard something pop, and when she tried to stand up, she couldn't put any weight on it without shooting pain up her ankle. She flailed her arms around on the ground, desperately searching for her missing glasses. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, her fingers closed around the cool frames of her glasses. In a hurry, she pushed them to her face, luckily the fall and following stampede hadn't broken them. She tried to stand up again but found that she couldn't. Prone on the ground, Jennifer twisted her body to look up at the Helicarriers.

But her attention was drawn away from them, as there was an explosion and something was thrown violently from the deck of a nearby carrier. At first, due to the height, Jennifer couldn't tell what it was, it just an amorphous black shape, but as it fell faster and faster Jennifer could tell that it wasn't an object, but a person. And as the person fell into the Potomac, submerging beneath the icy waves,

Jennifer screamed.

 _A few minutes prior_

"I was too late," Percy said into his mic as he punched in command strokes at a terminal. "Rumlow got the launch off." He pulled a thumb drive out of an inner pocket in his vest and plugged it into a port on the side of the terminal. Punching in a few more commands, he stood up, "Evacuation orders have been sent,"

"Confirmed," came Hill's voice in his ear, "Get to those carriers, Cap take Alpha, Falcon take Bravo, Sentinel take Charlie, we are t-minus ten mikes. Go."

"Check" Percy confirmed into his mic. Turning around from his place at a terminal Percy scanned the room. He locked eyes with a pretty blonde woman, she pointed hurriedly at a set of windows at the other side of the room, Percy nodded his thanks and sprinted towards the windows. Tucking his arms into his chest Percy ducked his head and crashed through the window. The carriers were directly below him, briefly scanning, he caught the sight of the designation numbers on the side of the side of the carrier directly below him and he directed his dive accordingly.

As he fell, he did a brief scan of the outlying area, and was pleased to see that civilians were fleeing the scene on sight. Channeling water from the river below, Percy coated the bottoms of his legs in a thin layer to cushion his fall. His feet made contact with the flight deck and he tucked and allowed the moment to carry Percy into a roll. Springing up from the roll, Percy took off at a run.

There was a flash of movement in Percy's peripheral, ducking behind a supply crate, the ground where Percy had been was torn apart as bullets exploded into the deck. Jumping up and twisting, Percy vaulted over the supply crate. As he was in the air, he locked onto three agents training their sights on him. Percy willed a spear into existence, while maintaining a firm hold of the water in order to create more. Hefting the created weapon in one hand Percy threw it.

The first spear caught the first man in the chest, piercing through the body armored embedding itself into the ground. As fast as Percy had launched the first spear, he fired two more. The two spears hit their marks and by the time Percy's boots hit the deck, the soldiers were dead.

More movement on his flank and Percy reacted instinctually. A wall of ice constructed itself in front of him as bullets began tearing into his position. Flakes of ice fell off of the wall as bullets hit their marks. Pressing a palm into the wall, a flurry of miniature ice missiles launched from the wall and into the positions of where Percy thought the shots were coming from. A series of screams alerted Percy to the fact that his attack had hit true.

Percy rolled out from his construct and made his way quickly towards the door hatch to the bowels of the ship. He had just reached the hatch when the door exploded and Percy was sent sprawling. He collided painfully with the wing of a jet, crumpling it and Percy collapsed to the flight deck.

Groaning, Percy pushed himself up to his knees. His vision was swimming but he could still make out the shape of a man walking out of the burning hulk of wreckage that was the doorway.

"Oh, you gotta be shitting me." Percy muttered as he got to his feet. Cracking his neck, Percy shook his limbs loose for what he knew was going to be a fight. Looking at the man in front of him Percy shouted, "We don't have to do this Barnes." he said, hoping that by hearing his name the Winter Soldier would be jolted like he had been back at the freeway.

"Steve's a good friend. I don't want to hurt him by killing you." The HYDRA agent seemed to pause a little, but didn't respond. Not conventionally anyway. The grenade launched at Percy's feet seemed to send the right kind of message however.

Percy had managed to dive out of the way of the brunt of the explosion but was still caught in part of the shockwave and Percy was thrown again. He landed in a heap at the feet of a group of incoming SHIELD pilots. Two of them quickly scrambled to pick the man up, Percy nodded then paused, looking at the group, "What the hell are you still doing here?" he half-shouted over the canons firing around them,

The pilots looked at one another then the lead one, a woman in her early thirties shrugged and said, "We're the only air support Captain Roger's has," Just as she was saying this, War Machine raced by overhead, his turret firing behind him as a pair of Quinjets gave chase. Suddenly, Rhodey stopped in midair, and the two jets blew past. Wrist mounted rockets opened and were simultaneously launched, catching both birds in the fuel fuselages. The jets exploded in twin fireballs and Rhodey launched himself in another direction, looking to help take some of the heat off of Falcon on his approach.

Percy turned to the group of SHIELD pilots, eyebrow raised, "Appreciate the sentiment," He then turned away from the group as the Winter Soldier slowly stalked forward. "But apparently this is happening." Percy muttered, without looking at the pilots he shouted, "Either take off or leave, I don't care which!" The group of pilots hesitantly looked at one another before they ran off to their respective jets.

"As for you…" Percy growled, "You're beginning to get on my nerves pal." The man didn't respond but instead raised his rifle again. "Nope," Percy shouted as he disappeared in a veil of mist. He intended to appear right behind the agent but Barnes had been a fast study. Dropping the rifle in his hands, Barnes spun around and lashed out with a hard, left hook. The blow caught Percy across the jaw just as he was re-materializing directly behind Barnes.

Percy fell to a knee from the blow, desperately he raised his hands to defend himself but Barnes' kick caught him square regardless. Percy tumbled, catching himself and springing to his feet before diving to the side as Barnes' knee connected with deck, cracking the surface.

" _Alpha Lock."_ Came Steve's voice in Percy's ear.

" _Falcon, Sentinel, where are you."_ asked Hill,

" _Had to take a detour,"_ shouted Sam, and Percy could hear the firing of the big guns behind the flying man,

"Ran into an annoying problem." said Percy, rolling his sleeves up on his cover shirt. He was annoyed now and he was very much done pulling his punches. Barnes marched forward, throwing a series of fast and hard punches. Percy ducked out of the way, catching the man with a hard series of jabs to the jawline and temple. Barnes stumbled backward, dazed. Percy grabbed him by the neck of his coverall, cocking his arm back Percy leveled several hard punches to the side of the agent's head. There was a sickening crunch, as Percy broke the man's nose.

Grabbing the back of the man's head with both of his hands, Percy jerked Barnes' head forward and violently swung his knee upward. Barnes' forehead met with Percy's knee and the man crumpled in Percy's arms. Percy steadied the man before spinning on the spot and kicking Barnes in chest, throwing him into a supply crate.

" _Bravo Lock."_ said Sam in Percy's ear.

" _T-minus six mikes. Sentinel. Hurry it up."_ said Hill sharply,

"Working on it." Percy growled, "Oh shit," he muttered. Percy had inadvertently kicked Barnes directly to where he had dropped his grenade launcher.

Barnes growled, his eyes were glazed over, and between the blood pooling from his broken nose, and forehead, the man looked more like a wild animal than a human being. Percy tried to bring his arms up, and was in the process of summoning water to protect him when both his and Barnes' attention was drawn elsewhere.

A slow but energetic guitar riff filled the noisy space of the battle as rock music began blaring from somewhere above them.

" _She was a fast machine. She kept her motor clean. She was the best damn woman I had ever seen. She had the sightless eyes. Telling me no lies. Knockin' me out with those American thighs."_

" _Hey there barnacle boy. Miss me?"_

Came the snarky voice of Tony Stark over Percy's comms. And then a propulsor blast caught the man out of time in the chest. Barnes flew into the supply crate and both the man and the crate flew away down the flight deck.

Then the red and gold armored Avenger landed in a thud on the flight deck.

"Good to see you too Tony," Percy panted, letting himself relax a little. "What took you so damn long."

" _Sorry about the wait, had to pick my suit up at the dry cleaner."_ Then Tony's voice grew a hard edge to it, _"Take care of the carrier,"_ Said Tony, _"Me and the Sergeant here have some things we need to work out."_

Percy nodded and began to make his way towards the hatch. Then he stopped and turned to look at his friend, "Stark…Tony, I understand that you're hurting, and you have every right to be." Percy then turned to look at where the soldier had been blasted, "But he didn't choose this. HYDRA corrupted him, tore his psyche apart and turned him into something else. It wasn't Bucky who killed your parents. It was the Winter Soldier."

Tony didn't say anything, he just began stalking forward, Percy shook his head and he began to move back towards the doorway. But the hair on the back of his neck stood on end and he paused,

" _Percy, incoming,"_ Stark shouted, sounding panicked, Percy turned his attention due east. Somehow, the Winter Soldier had snuck away and secured a jet. The jet was coming in on low on approach. The mini gun whirred to life and Percy turned and tried to run. He heard the sound of a propulsor being fired but it was too late, a missile was fired in Percy's direction. Percy was violently thrown through the air and suddenly the airship tilted violently to one side as another internal explosion rocked the ship.

" _What the hell just happened, Charlie is listing hard to aft, there was an explosion in the one of the aft propulsors."_ Hill shouted into the comms.

" _Sorry, that was me."_ said Rhodey apologetically, _"Misjudged a blast and accidentally threw a jet into one of the engines."_

Percy could hear the exchange but was too concerned with the fact that he was currently tumbling uncontrolled down the flight deck. Just before he fell over the side, he managed to catch a loose cable and saved himself as he fell off the side of the carrier. As he was dangling, Percy could see Barnes' jet turning around and preparing for another run at him. "Tony," Percy said, his voice wavering slightly, "Could really use a hand here." However before Tony could respond, the big guns on the flight deck began opening up,

" _Um a little busy here. Gah! Son of a bitch."_ Percy watched as Tony got hit stray flak and was thrown through the sky.

Thinking quickly, Percy shouted into his comms, "Sam or Rhodey, need a pick-up."

"When?" Came the immediate reply,

Percy willed a new spear of water into his hand and just as Barnes made the final turn and began his approach, Percy let go of the cable and threw the spear as far and as hard as he could.

"Now would be nice." Percy said, as he fell into the sky. Percy watched as his spear made contact with the window, and the jet veered hard off to one side, before crashing back onto the flight deck. It tore through crates and other jets before skidding to a stop at the far end.

For a few, terrifying moments, Percy was in free fall. Weightless. Nothing below him but the ground and nothing over him but the clouds. The rush of air in his ears drowned out everything and suddenly, he was twelve years old again, falling from the arch with nothing under him but the rushing waters of the Mississippi. And then, something caught his arm. It was a metal gauntlet. Rhodey slowed his momentum down and heaved Percy up so that the man could sling an arm over the turret on his shoulder.

Percy pat the metal man on the back, panting slightly, "Thanks for the save man, appreciate it,"

" _Yeah well, considering I'm pretty sure I'm the reason you fell in the first place…we'll call it even."_ Rhodey replied. _"Where to?"_

Percy scanned the horizon and caught sight of Sam flying down to pick up Cap. Pointing over to the men, Percy said, "Over there, get me to Cap, we need to finish this."

" _Check,"_ was Rhodey's reply over the comms and they took off towards their comrades. Just as they got within a few yards of Sam and Steve though, a new flurry of antiaircraft fire began to open up.

Rhodey yelped in surprise and pain as something caught him in the side, Percy was thrown from the man's shoulder and suddenly he was falling again.

"Percy!" Yelled Sam and Steve together, but Percy wasn't paying attention, he none of them would be able to catch up to Percy in time by this point. He only had a few seconds worth of a window before this would become problematic. Reaching into his vest, Percy withdrew his targeting blade.

"Steve, catch!" Percy shouted, before hurling the targeting blade through the sky at the Captain, Percy watched as the man snagged it cleanly out of the air, and tucked it into a pouch on his belt.

"What about you?" Steve yelled into the mic,

"I'll be fine. Focus in on the carrier, those things reach three-thousand before you can swap those blades out and all of this will be for nothing. Get those carriers down, Steve. I'll see you when we kill those things."

Turning around in the air, Percy repositioned himself. He could see the waters of the Potomac just under him and coming up fast. Positioning himself just so, he hit the water in a perfect dive, the familiar and safe feeling of the water encompassing him. He felt the pains and aches of his body begin to alleviate. His joints popped as his body was restored. He hadn't been able to submerge since the shower at Sam's and he was sore and tired. This dip in the freshwater was exactly what his body needed.

He wasn't sure how long he had been down there, could have been thirty seconds, could have been thirty minutes. Percy had a bad habit of letting time slip away from him when he was in the water. Opening his eyes, he smiled, and he shot to the surface.

BREAK

Jennifer crawled to the edge of the river and looked down. It had been nearly ten minutes since she had seen the man fall into the river. She wasn't sure what drew her to the side of the river, but some part of her just needed to see for herself. She should have known better, she had watched enough documentaries on Netflix to know if someone fell from that kind of a height into water, they would be little more than a very wet pancake. But something was different about this. Some part of her was telling Jennifer that she needed to be there, looking at the water.

And sure enough, just as she had scooted to the edge of the bank, something burst from the water, spraying and soaking Jennifer from head to toe. Turning around sharply, and gasping in fear and shock, Jennifer caught sight of the man she watched plummet two-thousand feet into the Potomac, and her eyes widened in shock as she recognized who she was looking at.

He was bigger than she was expecting, both taller and more muscular than any other person she had ever seen. His broad back was heaving as he took deep breaths. More shocking than his sudden appearance however, was the fact that he was completely dry. The man stood up and turned around to look at the skyline, but then he caught sight of Jennifer, sitting on the ground, her ankle throbbing, and still soaking wet. She froze in place, she could feel her eyes widen and she stopped breathing.

She'd heard about him of course, given that her cousin was a…work friend, she had naturally asked about all of the Avengers. But never in her life did she imagine she would meet one of them. Bruce had made it a point to keep her as far away from SHIELD and his "other" job as possible. Jennifer agreed with it for the most part, her cousin had attracted a hell of a lot of bad attention over the years, and Jennifer Walters was as far from a superhero as her geeky cousin used to be. Apparently, Bruce couldn't keep trouble from finding her though.

He must have seen the fear in her eyes because his feature softened and he crouched down low, making himself look smaller and far less intimidating. "Hey, hey," he said softly, his voice was low but gentle, "It's ok. You're going to be ok." His eyes dropped down and eyed her swelling ankle, "That looks like it's hurting," he said, pointing at the injury. "I might be able to help you with it."

Jennifer didn't respond vocally; she didn't trust her voice around the man. How could she? The Avengers were practically royalty these days. They were almost mythical in their pop-culture stature, and so to have one not three feet in front of her, and talking to her, was more than a little overwhelming.

The Sentinel smiled, he had a nice smile, Jennifer thought, it filled his face in a pleasing way and made his deep green eyes pop. He then moved forward, and the first thing he did was place his hand on her ankle, and suddenly Jennifer was covered in a warm and comforting feeling. He hair was no longer wet and dripping and she was no longer cold through her damp clothes. She looked down at her hands and body and saw that her suit and clothing were dry as though they had just been brought back from the cleaners. She looked up at the man holding her ankle in shock, he smiled back at her,

"Sorry about that, I didn't think anyone would still be around when I came out." she just nodded dumbly. She had seen the footage of the man summoning swords out of ice and water, it wasn't out of the realm of reality that he could dry her out.

"Now I apologize, I only started practicing this recently so I'm still kind of new to it, but it looks like just a bad sprain instead of a break or fracture." The man was saying as he examined her ankle, then his gaze rose and met her own. She could get lost in those eyes of his if she wasn't careful.

He returned his gaze to her ankle and waved his free hand in the air. A bubble of water appeared in his hand and he slowly lowered his hand down to her ankle. She closed her eyes and braced herself for either the cold wetness of the water or some kind of pain, but neither came. Instead, like when the water was removed, her ankle was filled with a warm sense of relaxation. She watched in awe as the swelling in her ankle lowered and the pain went away.

After a few moments the man removed his hand from her ankle. Slowly, he rotated the ankle one way, and then the other. Looking her in the eye he asked,

"Any pain?"

Jennifer shook her head in the negative.

He smiled again, and Jennifer couldn't help but return the gesture. "My name's Percy. What's yours?" he asked,

It took her a second to find her voice but she finally managed to speak, "J-Jennifer. Jennifer Walters." she said, and the Sentinel, Percy extended his hand out for her to take. With a shaky hand she took his hand in hers, his larger grip totally encompassing hers.

"Nice to meet you Jen," he said, and Jennifer tried not to swoon a little at the nickname. He then stood up, still holding onto her hand, "Now let's get you out of here before-"

He was cut off by a series of loud explosions. The pair looked up and watched as the three Helicarriers were turning their cannons on one another. Two of the Helicarriers exploded in a violent hell-storm of fire and metal began to fall down to the earth as the third Helicarrier collided right into the side of the Triskelion.

"Oh shit," Jennifer heard Percy mutter to himself, "Get behind me!" He ordered as he pulled Jennifer behind him, "And crawl under that bench! Hurry!" She did as she was told, too scared to think about questioning him. She watched as he ran into water, no that wasn't right, he ran right over the top of it.

"Holy shit…it's the second coming…" Jennifer muttered to herself as she watched. From her place under the bench, she watched as the Sentinel, as Percy, raised his hands into the air above his head. He assumed a ready stance, with his legs spread shoulder width apart and his knees bent, as though he were preparing for some kind of incoming attack. Then with a roar, like he was lifting something very heavily, Percy screamed. The water of the Potomac rose around him, gallons and gallons at a time. It rose above him, and then the water began to contort, taking shape.

It was like watching a sculptor slowly craft something out of clay. The water changed in shape until two, enormous hands, the size of a small building, were shaped out of the water. With another roar, the water hands flew up into the sky, one hand catching the first Helicarrier, the fingers of the hand wrapping around the deck of the carrier. The second hand caught the other carrier and did the same. With a shout of pain and a growl, Jennifer watched as Percy was forced to one knee, his arms shaking and the veins in his neck throbbing from the effort.

The carrier's descent slowed considerably, but they did not stop, the were falling too rapidly, Percy shouted again and another four tendrils of water launched out of the river beneath Percy. Two tendrils each attached to the carriers and the ships shook as their descent was slowed considerably. With a strain, Percy began to lower his arms to his side. As his arms lowered, the ships lowered too. When they were only a few hundred feet from the ground, Percy shifted his hands and, like he was upending a bucket, Percy overturned his hands and literally dumped the carriers back into docking bays they had been launched out of.

The carriers crashed into the docks, the sound of metal scraping against metal sounding like fingers against a chalkboard, and Jennifer tried to screw her eyes shut and cover her ears against the noise.

When the noise had stopped, and there was an eerie quiet along the walkway, Jennifer opened her eyes. Crawling out from her hiding place she slowly walked forward, stupefied but what she was looking at. Great pillars of thick, black, smoke was escaping from the docking ports, and Jennifer could still see part of the carriers as they lay against the dry docks. Then her gaze shifted and she saw Percy, slowly, gingerly, make his way over to the walkway. She ran up to the water's edge, just in time. Just Percy reached the lip of the walkway, he collapsed and almost fell through the surface of the water, but Jennifer reached out and grabbed a tight hold of his arm.

The weight of the man almost dragged Jennifer into the water with him but she managed to pull him out of the water and onto the grass. Panting from the exertion, Jennifer collapsed into the grass. Leaning over him, she was relieved to find his chest moving up and down, and after leaning her ear down to his chest, she could hear his breathing was steady. Sighing in relief, Jennifer collapsed down next to him.

Her heart almost had a chance to stop racing, before there was a loud whooshing noise, and the sound of something heavy landing on the grass. Bolting upright, Jennifer found herself staring into the glowing red eyes, and black and gray face plate, of War Machine. The fear in her breast must have shown on her face because quickly, the metal man raised his hands up in a supplicating gesture, and the face plate retracted to show the handsome if weathered features of Colonel James Rhodes.

"Easy there Ma'am, it's alright. I'm a friend." Jennifer nodded reluctantly, but she didn't remove her hand from its place on Percy's chest. Raising an eyebrow at that Rhodey raised a hand to his ear and began speaking, "This is Rhodes, found Jackson. Looks alright, just a little drained, got a fix on our location? Good, I'll go join Tones in the hunt for Steve." Rhodes turned his attention to back to Jennifer, "I got some friends coming to pick his dumb ass up. You mind staying with him, make sure he doesn't do anything else stupid?" Jennifer nodded dumbly before Rhodes nodded at her and took off back into the sky.

"Some friends they are," Jennifer heard Percy mutter, and her attention was immediately tracked back to the man on the ground, his eyes were slowly opening and he was fidgeting. "I'm semi-conscious and they decide to just let me chill with some woman we've never met." Percy then caught her gaze and had the good grace to look sheepish, "No offense Jen. You seem great but you know…" Percy trailed off but Jennifer laughed all the same,

"No, no…I get it." she said easily when she got her laughter under control. Percy grinned back up at her before he gently extracted himself from her grip and stood up, pulling her to her feet as he did so.

"What were you still doing here by the way," Percy asked her, "I could have sworn I got the evacuation order put out in time."

Jennifer tried to fight down the oncoming blush, "No! No-you uh, you did." she stammered out, "I was getting ready to run, but um, I got pushed and I lost my glasses and then when I tried to find them someone stomped on my leg and I just…panicked…" she finished lamely and started to fidget with the hem of her skirt.

She was looking down, embarrassed, embarrassed that she had acted so-so cowardly in front of an Avenger of ALL people. She jumped a little when she felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up, she met Percy's strong gaze. He was no longer smiling but was staring at her with such an intensity that Jennifer had to fight not to look away.

"Jen," Percy said seriously, "You were caught in the middle of a war zone, one that you sure as hell never asked to be a part of. There is no shame in being afraid, hell if you weren't scared, I'd be even more concerned." Percy said, seriously. "It's not a person's inability to feel fear that makes somebody brave or courageous. In fact, I would argue that the absence of any sense of fear invalidates a person's ability to be brave. It's our ability to push through our fears and face dangers head on that makes us brave. And you, today, were very brave."

Jennifer had literally no response to that, luckily, she didn't need to have one ready. The air around them was whipped into a frenzy as a helicopter lowered to the ground. Percy turned and gave a wave to the people in the helicopter before turning back to Jennifer, "Guess this is goodbye." He said, patting her on the shoulder, "It was nice meeting you Jen," he turned to walk away but was stopped when Jennifer, who for the first time in a very long time, acted on impulse, and slipped a card into Percy's hand

"If you…if you ever need a good lawyer. Give me a call. Please." Percy looked down at the card in his hand before looking at her. His face broke into a wide smile

"I'll keep it in mind" he said. "Now I want you to get out of here Jen, and try to stay out of trouble." he added with a wink. Stepping into the side of the chopper, he tucked the card in a pocket inside his vest and took a headset from Sam, catching the man's look as he passed the headset he asked, "What?" Sam didn't respond,

"What!?" he asked.

But his only response was an annoying smirk.

BREAK

Jean's eyes slowly blinked open, groaning her eyes slowly adjusted to bright fluorescent lights of the infirmary. The room was silent, save for the steady, rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor. She sat up, slowly, wincing as she did so. Her head was throbbing, screwing her eyes shut she tried to block out the onslaught of thoughts and voices. Soon enough, she got a control of her powers and the noise ceased. Sighing in relief, she slumped back into her pillows.

Thinking back on what happened, her pulse began to elevate, illustrated by the increased tempo of the heart monitor. Panicking, she reached out with her senses, feeling for Percy anywhere. After a few moments of searching, she found him. He was tired, and sore. But his heart rate was steady and he was alive. She got a flash of him in a helicopter next to the Black Widow and a man she didn't recognize. Sighing in relief, she vowed to herself to kill the man herself for scaring her like that.

"Bout time ya woke up," drawled a woman's voice to her left. Looking over, she saw Anna Marie LeBeau, better known by her alias Rogue, lounging casually in a chair next to her bed. She swiped her streak of white hair out of her hairs and tucked it behind one ear, "Way you were sleepin' I neva thought you'd wake up." She said, her thick southern drawl sounding like smooth molasses.

"How long was I out?" she asked,

"Ah don't know," Rogue responded, shrugging her shoulders, "Ah got back late last night though, and you were still sleepin. Don't think it was too long though."

Rogue looked down at her chest, and carefully, began extricating herself from the tangles of wires and machinery. "Where do ya think you're goin?" Rogue asked, raising an eyebrow,

Jean tugged herself free from the last sensor and swung her legs off the table. "I pass out in the middle of the lounge, have been unconscious for god knows how long, and I wake up, not to see my boyfriend, but you." She paused and looked over her shoulder, "No offense," Jean said,

"None taken," Rogue shrugged, crossing her arms, "You off ta give that boy scout a piece of your mind?" she asked,

Jean's eyes narrowed, focusing her powers she was able to easily locate Scott. He was laying down, still as a board on the bed in their shared bedroom. He had been acting oddly, lately, irrational and unusually combative and distant. It was high time they discussed whatever issues were between them. And that said nothing of the horrible things he had accused her of before her episode.

Grabbing a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt on the table by her bed, Jean changed out of the hospital gown and made to leave the infirmary,

"Something like that," she said, and made her way to her wayward beau.

 _ **AN:**_ **So I had to split this chapter up a little. Otherwise it would have been like 10k words and I'll be honest, that's longer than I like my chapter's to be. Other than that, this just about wraps up the Winter Soldier arc, the next chapter should be out next week, and it's…a bit of a doozy. What do you think is gonna happen? Let me know because I'd love to see if I've foreshadowed it well enough. Also, as I've been trying to finish the next half-blood chapter, I've been stuck with this idea. Would anyone be interested in reading a Percy Jackson procedural cop drama set in the DC's Young Justice Universe? I have a few chapter's done and I like it a lot. It's very different but kind of fun. Either way, thanks for all the love and support, ya'll are the freaking best.**

 **Love,**

 **LilDB**


	16. Hurt

As it turns out, Percy would be seeing Jennifer Walters again, much sooner than he was expecting. While Percy was taking his dip in the Potomac Steve and Tony engaged Barnes. It did not go well; Tony was actively trying to kill the man but Steve was staunchly opposed to the idea. Between equally fighting Barnes and Stark, Steve got more than a little beat to hell. Still he had somehow managed to swap the targeting blades with far fewer seconds to spare than anyone was comfortable with.

But during the crash Steve somehow managed to fall out of the carrier. It took them over an hour but between the chopper, Rhodes, and Tony they had managed to find their wayward Captain, lying motionless on the banks of the Potomac. It was…weird seeing Tony during all of this. On the one hand, the man seemed as though he had wanted to hate Steve. Hate the man for trying to hide what had happened to his parents. But he and Percy had been talking. It was really all there was to do while Steve was in surgery, and Percy had managed to help Tony see Steve's side of things. While Percy certainly didn't think Tony would be ok having Barnes around anytime soon, he was willing to bury the hatchet with Steve, which was all that Percy could really ask for.

Speaking of Barnes, he had managed to disappear. Somewhere between Steve falling into the river, and then miraculously reappearing on the shore, something Percy found immensely suspicious, the Winter Soldier had simply vanished. There were no tracks, no leads, nothing. It was as if the man had managed to disappear into thin air. It was more than a little frustrating, but at the end of the day, it only really mattered that Steve recovered. He had been flitting in and out of consciousness for several days.

Ok, so consciousness was perhaps a little liberal, his eyes would flutter occasionally and he would mutter something incoherent but it had been encouraging.

Or at least it had been until Natasha notified him that he was being called in to testify and defend his actions against a security tribunal. As the only high-profile active SHIELD agents to take part in the attack, as well as their public presence as members of the Avengers initiative; Percy, Natasha, and Steve were all being called in to answer for individually dismantling the greatest intelligence and security apparatus in the United States. Given the only other experience Percy had in a courtroom, he was greatly not looking forward to it.

Natasha had seemed more than confident enough, although if he were perfectly honest, Percy could rarely tell with the woman. Sometimes he could read her like a book, but ever since they pulled Steve off that embankment, she had been even more closed off than usual. She never stayed in the same room as him, and barely spent any time whatsoever in Steve's recovery room.

It had been concerning to Percy, but he trusted her. If she was being flightier than usual, she must have had her reasons. Part of which could be explained by the fact that she had dumped her entire file onto the internet, along with most of the SHIELD documents at her disposal. Percy knew he had nothing to really be worried about, nothing about his more, familial jobs, ever made it into the written or digital record archives, he and Fury had made sure of that personally, but still. It did feel weird having his entire mission history with the organization out in the open. He had yet to really read any of it however, far too preoccupied with Steve's recovery and wrangling Tony to consider the problem.

But now, here he was, two nights before the hearings were set to begin, sweating his ass off. The hearings had been postponed in the hopes that Steve would have recovered enough to testify, however the man was still asleep, so the tribunal had decided to hell with it, and were set to begin the hearings. Which is what had brought Jennifer Walters back into his fold. He had given her a call, and she had rushed over to his hotel as soon as she could. They had spent days going over their strategy for the meeting. Percy felt pretty comfortable with what they were going to do but again, given his record with the law, Percy was hesitant. But with Natasha and Jennifer on his side, Percy was confident that he would get through this in one piece.

BREAK

Natasha closed the door behind her before locking it and she turned to face the other person in the room. Jennifer was bent over a small table in the hotel room, writing into a notebook. Next to the notebook was a small recorder, Jennifer had an earbud in one ear and was listening to what was on the recording.

Natasha waited for the woman to finish what was on the tape before saying anything. Jennifer looked up in shock, one hand going up to cover her mouth in surprise. Natasha closed her eyes, knowing exactly what the other woman had just heard. With a shaky hand, the other woman turned off the recorder and set down her pen.

"This…this is going to destroy him." Jennifer muttered, more to herself than to Natasha.

Natasha just nodded her head, "It will," was her simple reply, "But we have to worry about the bigger picture here. This council is going to be grilling us over whether or not we believe that SHIELD needs to be resurrected, whether what we did was right." Natasha swallowed thickly, unable to meet the other woman's gaze, "This should be evidence enough to the whole world, exactly who and what SHIELD was." she took a shuddering breath,

"And why it needs to die."

BREAK

"Do you solemnly swear that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, under pains and penalties of perjury?"

"I do."

"You may be seated agent." Percy did as he was told, trying not to blink too much as the flashes of far too many cameras began going off. He tried to take a deep breath, but when he inhaled, it was shaky and uneven. Jennifer patted him comfortingly on the leg, he gave her a shaky smile and looked around the courtroom. He caught the eyes of Tony and Rhodey, standing off to one side, both looking a little battered but no worse for wear. Tony gave him a cheeky thumbs up and a wink, clearly taking delight in Percy's discomfort, while Rhodey just gave him an easy smile and a nod.

"Mr. Jackson, we have heard ad nauseum, from miss Romanoff on her rationale behind the attacks on the strongest intelligence apparatus available to our country, however we have yet to hear from you. Would you care to explain, for this tribunal, how you came to the decision to not only destroy three state of the art Helicarriers, but actively promote destroying the greatest asset this country has in the fight for national security?" asked some intelligence chief Percy had never heard of before.

Sitting up straighter in his chair, Percy cleared his throat before speaking. He hated public speaking, throw him in front of a hundred angry militia-men or a pit of pissed of monsters before this particular brand of hell.

"I was finishing up an investigation into a series of child abductions in Alberta-"

"Canada?" asked another member of the tribunal, "You were operating on foreign soil without express authority from either the United States or Canadian governments?"

Percy's eyes darted over to the other speaker, a four-star general, "You'll find sir that, when it came to SHIELD, territorial boundaries and country borders were little more than names and lines on a map." Turning his attention back to the intelligent chief, Percy continued,

"Like I was saying, I was finishing up my investigation, I was on location with a clean-up crew when I get a message from Natasha, erm Agent Romanoff. She alerted me to the fact that she and Steve, um Captain Rogers, were on the run and that Director Fury had been killed. She also implied that SHIELD had been compromised."

"And you had no reason to believe that Agent Romanoff was misleading you? That she herself had not been compromised?" asked the intelligence chief,

Percy raised an eyebrow, "You're joking right?" The deadpan expressions on the faces of the tribunal said otherwise, Percy scoffed and raised his hands up in exasperation. "Alright, couple things wrong with that. First of all, nobody 'sides maybe Clint, knows Natasha better than I do. She trained me, was one of my handlers, and we've been partners since my first days with SHIELD. I trust that woman with my life, my family's life, and with the lives of not just every American but every life on this planet."

Percy leaned forward on the table, his expression cold as ice, "You can disrespect me, you can disrespect my profession. But don't you dare disrespect her, or anyone else, who have gotten their hands dirty in the name of freedom just because you're so far disconnected from reality now that you have no goddamn idea what needs to be done." Percy leaned back in chair, crossing his arms over his chest,

"I remember this one time; we had this job in Kosovo. Diplomat's daughter got kidnapped by some radical extremists who wanted to restore the 'old ways' you know? So we get in, track them down to this old monastery on the outskirts of the small village on the border." Percy licked his lips as he remembered,

"It was my first operation; I was nineteen at the time. I was all piss and vinegar; thought I was some real hot shit ya know? Natasha wanted to go in soft, pick em apart, get the girl all quiet and leave before they even knew we were there. But me? nah I didn't want any of that. I have all these powers, all this strength; a couple of thugs with gear from the mid-eighties that probably didn't work right, what could be the problem for someone like me?" Percy chuckled sardonically,

"So, while Natasha sneaks in through the roof, I decided, 'to hell with it', and I broke down the front door. I was right to an extent; I tore through those bastards like they were butter. I broke through them one at a time until the only ones left were the little ring leaders. They holed themselves up in this small cellar in the basement, used to be where the monks did their transcribing or some shit, I don't know, but what I did know was that they had the girl, and they were shouting at me. Didn't understand what they were saying so I just yell back, 'hey, you guys are better off just giving up now,' or some cocky crock like that."

Percy was shivering a little now, and his voice was breaking, "Before I can do anything, I hear the shooting start, so I bust down the door, and see Nat, motionless on the floor, the girl under her, she had three slugs in her back. I…took care of the rest. The bad guys panicked, decided their best course was to kill the girl, go out like martyrs ya know? Well Natasha knew what I had done and had made it just in time. Took the shots for that little girl."

Tears were pricking at the corner of his eyes, "It took twelve hours of surgery, she died for about five minutes. But the little girl made it out with nothing more than a few bruises and a hell of a scare. Natasha Romanoff was willing to give her life for some little girl that she didn't know, and got shot because of my screw-up." He looked each member of the tribunal square in the eye in turn, "Does that sound like someone who is compromised to you?" Percy took a few shuddering breaths as he wiped anxiously at his eyes.

"When Natasha tells me something is the way that it is, I believe her. Because there is no one who is more dedicated to the job, to the protection of freedom than her." Percy cracked his neck as he tried to collect his thoughts, "Where was I?" he asked and Jennifer muttered softly,

"You were about to describe meeting up with Romanoff and Captain Rogers,"

"Right," Percy said, "Yeah, um, so I-I hightailed it to the coordinates Natasha gave me. It was some old military base, decommissioned decades ago. While we were there, we discovered a sub-basement. It used to be a SHIELD OPS center. In the basement we found this…. recording…by an old HYDRA scientist, Armin Zola. He informed us that HYDRA had been infiltrating SHIELD for more than fifty years."

"And you decided to trust a known HYDRA agent, telling you that SHIELD was taken over and being run by an organization that died decades ago?" Asked another member of the tribunal incredulously,

"Why would he have any reason to lie?" Percy asked, "And given the fact that Steve Rogers had been put on the top of SHIELD's most wanted list, well, forgive me if I felt like something was wrong with that picture.

Percy snorted derisively, "Anyways, we got our hands on a SHIELD analyst, the now deceased Jasper Sitwell, and he told us what HYDRA was planning to do with those carriers. No need for us to go over that again I think Natasha covered it all far more eloquently than I ever could," Percy said easily, "But yeah, one thing led to another and bang, three dead Helicarriers and one dead intelligence agency."

"That still does not explain why you would be so willing to destroy the organization," said the intelligence chief, "This is the same group that brought you in, saved your life and gave you a fresh start, and you just so willingly turn your back against it? Both of you? Both you and Agent Romanoff were offered new leases on life by SHIELD and you repay it but destroying the agency? I hate to tell you this folk's but that explanation just isn't good enough. Why should we believe that, for the good of this country, SHIELD not only deserved to die, but should stay that way?"

"Then how about something a little more concrete?" Natasha spoke up suddenly, turning to look at Jennifer who nodded in return and stood up with a large bag in her hands. Walking over to a large audio system in the corner, Jennifer pulled out a thumb drive and inserted it into the machine.

"These audio files were taken on May 2nd, 2007." Jennifer said tonelessly, and Percy's blood froze. That was the day before he was arrested, but…that had to be a coincidence, right? Jennifer hit play on a small tablet in her hands.

There was pause, then the sound of a door opening and closing. Before a very familiar voice began speaking,

" _You wished to speak with me Director?"_ Phil Coulson was asking,

" _Yes. I wanted an update on our Operation Hurricane"_ came Nicky Fury's answering voice,

" _Of course, sir. We're all set and ready to go. Files have been forwarded to the Bureau and they're ready to pick Jackson up in the morning."_

Percy felt his stomach drop. His throat closed up, and he couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. "What is this?" he asked sharply, but no one replied and the tapes kept playing.

" _Excellent; I want you to triple check, make sure they have everything they need. I want this to move through quickly, the longer the trial takes the more people are going to start asking uncomfortable questions."_

" _Understood sir. How long are we planning on keeping him there?"_

" _Year or two at least. Depends on how things go, but I want him to be desperate when we make our play. Desperation leads to compliance. We need this kid on our side; to be his saving grace. His loyalty is paramount, and the only way to ensure that is to make sure he feels absolutely hopeless before we move on him."_

The tape stopped, and Percy's vision began to swim a little. He was having difficulty hearing and almost missed what Jennifer said next, "This next recording took place on January 12th, 2008,"

Coulson spoke first again, _"Sir, there has been a development with Operation Hurricane,"_

" _What is it?"_

" _There was a riot at Sing-Sing. An inmate attempted to stab Mr. Jackson with a shiv, and Jackson crushed his windpipe. The inmate is dead and Jackson is being moved into isolation. We might want to consider accelerating the schedule."_

" _Damn. Alright, let him sweat it out for a few more months. Maybe some time in isolation will actually help us here. What's the latest from Skivorski?"_

" _Samson tells us that Jackson has been having reoccurring nightmares, that the boy has been having difficulty dealing with the fact that he's been used his whole life."_

" _Has the Doc been feeding him what we wanted?"_

" _He has. Samson informed me that Jackson has been very receptive to the idea that he needs to forge a new path away from his…family. He believes that, given a little more time, Percy Jackson will leap at the opportunity to make something new of himself."_

" _Good, I want him out in four months."_

" _Understood, sir."_

Percy was vaguely aware that he was shaking, he could feel someone place a hand on his shoulder and someone was saying something but he couldn't hear anything. He couldn't understand what was happening, it had to be some kind of a joke, a trick. Something. He refused to believe that he had allowed this to happen. He would have known, would have been able to tell if they had been using him. He would have seen the signs, he would have!

"The last recording takes place on May 14th, 2008."

Once again, Coulson led off the proceedings,

" _Sir,"_

" _What have you got for me Phil,"_

" _Made contact a few days ago, he was very receptive. I believe that it will only be a matter of time before-"_ Coulson was cut off by the ring of a phone. It only rang once before Coulson picked it up, _"Glad to see you've accepted our offer Mr. Jackson. There's a car waiting for you outside, we look forward to working with you."_ There was the sound of Coulson ending the call and replacing his phone.

" _Job is done sir,"_

" _Excellent work. Romanoff, Barton, you ready?"_

Percy's vision cleared for a moment and he cut a look across the room to Natasha. His breathing was coming in short and shallow gasps as he tried to catch her eyes but she refused to meet his gaze. Choosing instead to look resolutely ahead, her face a stoic mask.

Natasha and Clint's voices filled the chamber,

" _We're ready for him sir,"_

" _Don't worry, a few months with us and this kid'll be a force to be reckoned with."_

" _That is the idea here agents. Now, you are aware of what needs to be done here, correct,"_

" _We do sir,"_

" _This kid's psyche is on the verge of breaking, he's been used his entire life. Had his life dictated on the orders of others, he is going to have a very difficult time adjusting to the agency. I need the two of you to be more than just his handler's and partners, you understand?"_

" _You want us to befriend him?"_

" _More than that?"_

" _Would you like me to seduce him?"_

" _Nothing so obscene. We need Percy Jackson to believe in SHIELD. To trust SHIELD. And on the flip side we need Percy Jackson's undying loyalty and support; we don't get that if he doesn't have people in here to call his own. I need you to be his friends. His support structure, his family. He needs to turn to you before he goes to anyone else. You understand me?"_

" _Completely sir,"_

" _What happens if we can't completely flip him?"_

" _Then we terminate the arrangement. Permanently."_

The recording ended.

The room fell silent, save for the rapid clicks and flashes of camera's going off. But Percy didn't notice, he was still staring at Natasha, unblinking. Unbelieving. He felt sick, and he started to shake a little more uncontrollably. It had all been just another lie? He had spent the last six years of his life dedicated to a lie? No that couldn't be the case. He knew that couldn't be true. Natasha was his friend, Clint too. More than that, they were his family, they had been there with him since the beginning. They wouldn't do this to him. They couldn't do this to him. He knew better.

But as he stared at Natasha, and she refused to meet her gaze, his heart shattered. "Nat…" he rasped, his voice hoarse as he felt tears begin to form in the corners of his eyes, "Nat, what is this? This-this is a joke right? Y-you're just messing with me again?" she still didn't meet his eyes. "You…you wouldn't do this to me, c'mon Nat, p-please…" he was begging now, "Tell me that this is wrong, t-that you a-and Clint…you wouldn't lie to me like this right?"

She still didn't answer him, and something in Percy snapped, he jumped to his feet, slamming his fists on top of the table. The table shattered, splitting in half at the force of the impact. "Goddammit Natasha! Answer me! Was it all a lie! Did you use me, was my entire life a lie!" He was shouting, subconsciously aware that what was happening was being broadcast live on national television but far from caring at this point.

"Answer me!"

Finally, Natasha looked at him. And for the first time since Percy met her, he watched the Black Widow break. Tears were staining her high cheeks, the light mascara she had been wearing was beginning to run. "Yes," she whispered, and had it been any other moment, the sheer brokenness of her voice would have worried Percy. But now, it only served to enrage him. The entire room began to rumble a little, as Percy's rage and heartbreak cause him to lose a semblance of control over his power.

"You…you…you-I don't even know what you are," Percy whispered, his voice shaking in rage and sorrow, "I trusted you. I TRUSTED YOU!" he roared, and someone grabbed onto his shoulder and tried to settle him down, but Percy was too far gone, "I TRUSTED YOU WITH MY LIFE. MY HOME. MY FAMILY!" And then something further seemed to snap within the man, and he collapsed into his chair, "Oh my god, I trusted you with my family." He had let her into his home, had allowed her and Clint to meet his family, the woman had held his baby sister for god's sake. He had trusted them with the most important people in his life.

Natasha was saying something to the panel, but Percy wasn't listening to her anymore. "I-I need to leave, I need to-to…" Percy was rambling, he couldn't think any more. Emotionally, he was unable to understand what was happening to him, what he had done to deserve this. Another pair of arms grabbed onto Percy's free shoulder and pulled him to his feet, but Percy was no longer seeing or hearing, lost to the world in his grief.

"Easy there buddy we got ya" Tony was saying to him, as he and Rhodey pulled Percy to his feet,

"Make a lane people," Rhodey was saying, his voice taking the tone of the full bird Colonel that he was, "Make a lane we're done here."

"Colonel Rhodes, where do you think you're taking Agent Jackson!" demanded an Air Force General,

Rhodey's response was cut off by the firm voice of the intelligence chief, "It's fine Joseph, I believe we've all heard enough for the day. We'll adjourn, Agent Jackson is free to go."

Tony and Rhodey hadn't even been listening, too busy trying to get Percy free from the throngs of photographers and news correspondents. Rhodey left his place from Percy's side and stepped in front of him, acting as a makeshift bodyguard as he kept the press at bay while he pushed the groups way through the horde into the hallway. As soon as Rhodey had left, Jennifer took his place, placing a soothing hand on his lower back as she tried to help push him forward.

"Goddamn vultures," Tony muttered under his breath as he helped guide Percy. "Don't worry Aquaman, I got ya. Not going anywhere here."

As they made their way out of the building they were bombarded on the steps of the building. Reporters and photographers swarmed them on all sides and a million questions were all being asked at once,

"Mr. Sentinel, Mr. Sentinel, how will these revelations affect your work with the Avengers?"

"Can you confirm that you're secretly an alien pretending to be human?"

"Is it true that you and the Black Widow have been dating? Has your entire relationship been a lie?"

It was too much, it was all too much. Percy's head was spinning, he wanted to throw up, or punch something, or curl up and cry. He didn't know what he wanted; he didn't know who he was. Without SHIELD, just who was he? Where would he find direction? For his entire adult life, he thought he'd known just who was giving the orders, who the good guys and the bad guys were. And then, in the span of less than a week, everything had crumbled.

He had thought he'd been taking control of his life back when he signed on. He thought, that for the first time in his life, he had been the one dictating his life. But it had been a lie. The training, the friends, everything. Could he even trust Steve, or Tony? He tried to shake himself of the notion, there's no way that Steve would have known, and even if he had, he wouldn't have gone along with it. Right?

Percy didn't know; and that hurt more than anything. These people had been his friends, and now he didn't know if there was anyone left he could trust.

He shook his head to himself, that wasn't true. He still had his family; still had Logan, and Ororo, and Jean. Unless they had been in on it? His head hurt. His vision was swimming. There was too much happening. Too much noise; he was being over-stimulated and-

"Alright that's enough!" Jennifer shouted at Percy's side, "My client will not be answering any questions at this time! Any RELEVANT questions can be directed to my office! Now shut up and make room! My client has suffered enough today and I will not tolerate him being harassed!"

"Happy!" Tony shouted loudly into a mic on his lapel and a large black town car roared up to the curb, Happy Hogan jumped out the driver side with the engine running and hurriedly opened the back door. Percy was gently pushed inside, followed by Jennifer, Tony and Rhodey."

Happy slammed the door shut, climbed back into the driver's seat, and tore off down the road.

The inside of the car was silent, save for the deep shuddering breaths of Percy as he tried to avoid a full meltdown. Tony put a reassuring hand on Percy shoulder, squeezing it tightly, "You can let go Percy, you're safe in here."

Percy just closed his eyes, and allowed the tears to run freely down his face.

BREAK

"Why'd you do it?" he asked before he could stop himself. She had been just about to leave the graveyard; leave him, Sam, everything, but he couldn't let her go without hearing it for himself. When Steve had first woken up, he had been confused, then the press had managed to find his room and they started asking if Percy was leaving the Avengers and he was even more confused.

Then Sam showed him the clips on YouTube. He had been hurt, angry, and mournful and far too many other emotions that Steve didn't have the vocabulary to describe. The anger he had felt for what had been done to his friend, his comrade, burned hotly. Doubly so because he had just been allowing himself to trust her, to believe that she had been honest with him, that she had truly meant those things she had said to him in that bedroom in D.C.

Apparently, the Black Widow had fooled him now too.

"Why'd you do it Nat?" he asked again, a little more forcefully this time. She had stopped at his first inquiry, but she hadn't turned to face him. She didn't the second time either; Steve was doubtful that she could look him in the eye and give him an honest answer.

He wasn't sure he wanted one.

She didn't have to ask what he was talking about; she knew he wasn't asking about Bucky's files, she owed him that much. No, she knew he was asking about Percy. He could tell in the way her back tightened, before her shoulders drooped, and her hands clenched. A small part of him was pleased to see that she was so clearly remorseful over her actions, but the cynical part of his brain wasn't convinced this wasn't another act.

"Percy was-is too powerful to be running around unchecked and untrained. As he was, he was little more than a child with some serious issues. Issues, that if left unresolved could have ended very, very poorly for a lot of innocent people."

She was quiet for a second, but Steve let her collect her thoughts, he wanted an honest and complete answer from her, "Percy wasn't the same when he came out of the pit. I've seen the records. He still isn't really the same. He probably hasn't told you much about what happened down there, or about his life before, but it wasn't pretty."

She was right. Percy had rarely if ever spoken about his life before SHIELD, but from he had told Steve, it hadn't been pretty. He had only heard Percy refer to the "pit" as he called it, in passing. But he had asked Thor about it, and the Thunderer had kindly filled him in on the basics.

Steve hadn't slept so well that night.

"We needed to bring him in, get him at least check out and get a full psych evaluation done. But Fury saw more, he saw pure and untapped potential. A lump of dirty coal ready to be turned into a diamond. He showed me and Clint some footage on the kid, we agreed. It was why we agreed to the job in the first place."

She paused again, and he shoulder's started to shake a little. Steve felt the need to approach her, but refrained, she composed herself and continued, "I had only been with SHIELD for a few years. Clint and Fury were the only people left on the planet that I trusted, and even then, only barely. Of course I agreed, it was an easy assignment, and it wasn't like I was expecting to get attached." She let out a strangled hack that could have been a laugh or a sob, Steve couldn't tell.

"But nothing is ever simple when it comes to Percy Jackson. He has this…obnoxious ability to wiggle his way into your life, and ingrain himself there. It wasn't long before both Clint and I were compromised. We liked the little shit too much. We saw too much of ourselves in him. But we couldn't let Fury know, if he did…well…we were scared of what would have happened to him. We didn't want him ending up with the wrong people. Especially knowing now what we do, about HYDRA…" she trailed off, taking in a sniffling breath.

"Do I regret what I did? I do. I probably will for the rest of my life. Percy was one of my best friends. One of the few people I could truly let in. And I was lying to him the entire time I knew him. But I would do it again in a second. Because it's better that it was us, than it was anyone else. And even if he never speaks to me again, I'll take solace in the fact that what Clint and I taught him has kept him alive, and will continue to keep him alive. That's all I can ask for…It's all I've wanted out of him." And then, without another word, she left the graveyard, leaving Sam and Steve alone to their thoughts.

BREAK 

Three days.

That's how long she had been living in the small beach-house at Montauk.

Three days since she had discovered the man she had loved, in the telekinetic arms of another.

Three days since she had thrown his body from the third story of the mansion.

Jean had been angry, and hurt, and too confused to stay at the mansion. She had needed to go away, to hide somewhere the others didn't know about. That was what had led her here. Sally had opened the door with open arms and a comforting smile. Percy was right; she truly was one of the kindest women Jean had ever met.

She had known the woman for only a few years. It had taken that long for Percy to trust her with his greatest secret.

He treasured and protected his family more fiercely than anyone she had ever met. It was one of the many reasons she loved him.

And she did love him.

She didn't spend those three days idle. She spent them reflecting. Thinking and analyzing. It was the scientist in her, she couldn't help it. She simply had to approach these things in the same analytical way she had approached her medical degree.

And so after days of thinking, and coming to terms with it, she came clean to herself.

Then she came clean to Sally.

The woman, bless her heart, had simply smiled and told, "It certainly took you long enough sweetheart." Jean was pretty sure she loved her too. To be frank it wasn't that difficult.

This was how she had been spending her days. It was also how she had come to see what happened in New York. The first day she had been there, she watched with the family as Percy stopped the carriers over the Potomac. She had nearly cried in relief at seeing him alive. Feeling his presence through her abilities was one thing; seeing him alive and moving was another matter altogether.

She had been relieved, and more than a little pissed when she saw the fighting on tv. She distinctly remembered telling the man not to do anything stupid, or cause her any more worry, so what does he do? Worry the hell out of her. She was going to tear him a new one, and it was only Sally's insistence that they would do it together that stopped Jean from flying to D.C. and ripping Percy apart.

That was until now.

Considering that she was a friend to the family, Sally and Paul had insisted on watching the inquiry live on CSPAN. Jean had been interested to see where things went as well, so naturally she had tuned in.

The first few days had been fairly dull, a lot of question and answer and hyperbole. Nothing honestly that worth watching. Until the third, when Percy began to testify. He had looked good, dressed in that deep navy suit that made his pop in the most wonderful way. She and Sally had shared knowing giggles when he stumbled through the first few questions; he was nervous as hell, not the Jean could blame him, considering the last time he had been in a similar situation.

Then the tapes started. Jean didn't need her powers to know what Percy was feeling. He had always worn his heart on his sleeve. He'd always lain his feeling out on display for the world to see. And the pain, betrayal, and heartache, coupled with the matching emotions that Jean had been latching onto. It had almost been too much to bear.

And to be honest, Sally had not been helping much. In the scant few years she had known Sally Blofis, Jean had never seen the woman so much as raise her voice. And had it been under different circumstances, seeing the enraged mother, scream and rage at the image of Natasha Romanoff on the screen would have been hysterically funny.

But there was nobody in the house who felt like laughing.

Jean had felt and understood Sally's pain and hurt, and most of all her anger. Jean's first thought had been to break the mind of the Black Widow, to turn her brain inside out and tear her psyche down until she was little more than a drooling vegetable.

But Percy wouldn't want that.

And Percy needed something else right now.

Sally hadn't even questioned it when Jean abruptly rose from the couch, and made for the room, Percy's room, she had been staying in. Sally understood where Jean was going. And all she said to the woman before Jean left was, "Bring him home, and don't you pull that Danvers shit. Or so help me Poseidon himself won't be able to fix what I do to you."

The woman was terrifying.

But she needn't worry. Jean had no intention of leaving Percy alone.

He needed her. She didn't know how yet. But whatever he needed; she would be there to give to him.

No matter the cost.

 _ **AN:**_ **FINALLY! Y'ALL HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG I'VE BEEN SITTING ON THIS SHIT! For real though, I've been sitting on this reveal, literally since I began rewriting Sentinel. Remember when I said I had some stuff planned that folks wouldn't like, this is it. This was what I was trying to foreshadow btw, not the Jean/Percy stuff because I thought that was obvious. But this, this right here, I've been heavy handedly playing up Percy's loyalty and devotion to SHIELD and Natasha and Clint just to hammer home how fucked up this is going to make him. Ugh my god this felt good to get done. And because I'm an evil bastard, you get to wait and see what the blowback is from all of this on Percy's end. Going to try and get some work done on my other stories, namely SOS and HBP. So, this story is going on the backburner for a little bit, BUT I can promise you that what's to come is going to be great. Here's a hint. The next story arc involves a man without fear, and a very vengeful former marine. Thanks again for all the love and support, let me know what you thought, and check out some of my other stories if you haven't already.**

 **Love,**

 **LilDB**


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